pentagenarian

English edit

Noun edit

pentagenarian (plural pentagenarians)

(rare) A person between 50 and 59 years old.
Synonyms: fiftysomething, quinquagenarian
- 1934, Har Dayal, “[Ethical Culture] The Five Concentric Circles”, in Hints for Self-Culture, London: Watts & Co., […], page 277:
  The path of Youth is illumined and flooded with the sunshine of optimism, courage, and sincerity: it does not stand in need of such feeble and flickering candle-light as the musty, out-of-date “experience” of cynical and disillusioned pentagenarians and sexagenarians can provide.
- 1959 November, Helen Papashvily, “Holiday Handbook of 20th Century Antiques”, in Ted Patrick, editor, Holiday, volume 26, number 5, Philadelphia, Pa.: The Curtis Publishing Company, page 149:
  To pentagenarians whose dimming eyes can read this small type it may come as a surprise, indeed a shock, to learn that the household goods of their childhood and early maturity have become collectors’ items and that the very pieces they discarded only yesterday as junk are shatched up today as antiques.
- 1976 March, S. Appu Rao, editor, All India Reporter, part 747, page 526, column 1:
  We are concerned with the prescription of qualifications for promotion of the lower division clerks to upper division posts in the Registration Department. Rule 13 insists on passing certain tests for promotional eligibility. When tests were newly introduced, R. 13A gave 2 years from their introduction for passing them, to all hands — harijan and non-harijan, but the former enjoyed an extra two-year grace period. Rule 13B totally exempted pentagenarians from passing these tests.
- 1981, Ed McBain [pseudonym; Evan Hunter], Rumpelstiltskin (Matthew Hope), New York, N.Y.: The Viking Press, →ISBN, page 118:
  I had never read a more devastating review from Jean Riverton—or, come to think of it, anyone—in my entire life. I could understand why she might have felt Vicky shouldn’t have invaded turf sacred to many of Calusa’s pentagenarians, but Jesus, did she have to rip her to shreds besides?
- 2005 May 16, John Helyar, “50 and Fired”, in Fortune, New York, N.Y., →ISSN; republished in John E. Richardson, editor, Business Ethics 06/07 (Annual Editions), 18th edition, Dubuque, Ia.: McGraw-Hill Contemporary Learning Series, 2007, →ISBN, part E (Downsizing of the Work Force), page 63, column 1:
  A 2003 survey by DBM, an outplacement firm, found that only 32% of workers over 57 earned the same or higher pay at their new employer, versus 42% of 38-to-56-year-olds (and 60% of 21-to-37-year-olds). Those data are all a year or two old, but the trends are continuing. “Older white-collar workers quickly become disenfranchised,” says Mark Zandi, chief economist of Economy.com. “They have difficulty getting back into the job market, and when they do, their compensation is often significantly reduced.” / How did life get so bad for pentagenarians? Age discrimination is part of the problem.
- 2011, Roger Norum, Frommer’s Norway, 5th edition, Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley Publishing, Inc., →ISBN, page 341:
  Ta Det Piano, Kipervikgata 1B (✆ 70-10-06-99), is one of Ålesund’s longest-running bars and still one of its most popular. This great hole in the wall is popular with everyone from college students to youthful pentagenarians.
- 2011, Michael Griffith, “Ollie the Punt Returner”, in Trophy: A Novel, [Evanston, Ill.]: TriQuarterly Books/Northwestern University Press, →ISBN, page 144:
  Bodies age, triumphs fade. There’s no use trying to hang on. If you do, you’ll look like the chrome-domed pentagenarian down at Skink’s who, having dispatched the biscuits-in-redeye-gravy breakfast special for the two thousandth day in a row, shimmies into his decades-old letterman’s jacket—blue wool body, vinyl sleeves gone from white to tallow, the L on his chest the size and subtlety of Superman’s S.
- 2016, 50+‎^[1], volume 8, Las Vegas, Nev.: Blair Publishing, Inc.:
  One of our favorite pentagenarians is back.
- 2018, Sam Osmanagich, “China - My Tibetan Adventure: Lhasa”, in Meditation at the Planet’s Sacred Sites: From Tibet, Bulgaria, Cambodia and Caribbean to Macedonia, Italy, Belize and Egypt, revised 2nd edition, Sarajevo: ‘Archaeological Park: Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun’ Foundation, →ISBN, page 228:
  They both traveled the world, climbed the holy mountains of Peru, Bolivia, and Columbia, visited other sites all over Europe and Asia. They came after three months of fitness training. I met Boris on the first weekend in March. He came to visit the Bosnian pyramids. These pentagenarians thought very highly of our work in Visoko.

Translations edit

person between 50 and 59 years old — see fiftysomething