【Aged】 , 【old】 , 【elderly】 and 【superannuated】 when applied to persons mean far advanced in years.
【Aged】 implies extreme 【old】 age with signs of feebleness or, sometimes, senility.
- the 【aged】 creature came, shuffling along with ivoryheaded wand
—Keats
【Old】 stresses the years of one’s life, but in itself carries no connotations of marked decline.
- a man, 【old】 , wrinkled, faded, withered
—Shak.
【Elderly】 may imply no more than that the prime of life has been passed.
- when you see me again I shall be an 【old】 man—that was a slip, I meant to say 【elderly】
—J. R. Loweliy
【Superannuated】 indicates that one has been retired or pensioned because of having reached a certain age.
- varying in different callings
- 【superannuated】 teachers
- 【superannuated】 judges
Sometimes the word implies merely that one has passed the years of usefulness and with this denotation it is applied to things as well as to persons.