Skip to main content
eighties

eighties

7 2.7
The years when a person is between 80 and 89 years old
  • noun
  • /ˈeɪtiːz/
translation icon : octogenario
  • By then, she was in her late eighties and had outlived several of her children.

Examples

  • Now in his eighties, Clarke resides in Sri Lanka, where he has been since the mid-1950s.

    Academic text (2000)
  • Rudolf continued at the institute as a part-time professor until well into his eighties.

    Academic text (2003)
  • Now these two men in their eighties had become close.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • The last baker had been in his eighties when he finally sold the business.

    Blog text (1)
  • "Their aged cousins, sisters, both in their late eighties, were putting them up.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • Even as they progress into their eighties and nineties, these women are encouraged to learn new skills.

    Academic text (2000)
  • To a woman in her eighties, sixty is young," Momoko said, laughing.

    Fiction book (1996)
  • I rang the bell and also knocked because Max, who was well into his eighties, was a little deaf.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • A woman in her eighties moved hesitantly from the car and leaned against the walker.

    Fiction book (1994)
  • Despite the challenges of aging, she was remarkably active in her eighties and enjoyed traveling.

Synonyms

mid-eighties
vseighties
3.2

A time of life around eighty-five years old

shows identical meaning but differs only in wording or form

Compounds

A time of life around eighty-five years old

Surface Forms

eighties plural

Morphology

eighties = eighty (transparent) = eighty + s

This is the regular plural/collective use of 'eighty' to denote the age range 80–89, which is directly predictable from the base.

Etymology

Eighties can also mean the years in a person's life from '80' to '89'. Think of it like 'in your twenties' or 'in your thirties'—the eighties simply names that group of ages.