gerontology

noun

ger·​on·​tol·​o·​gy ˌjer-ən-ˈtä-lə-jē 

: the comprehensive multidisciplinary study of aging and older adults compare geriatrics

gerontological

jə-ˌrän-tə-ˈlä-ji-kəl 

adjective

or less commonly gerontologic

jə-ˌrän-tə-ˈlä-jik 

gerontologist

ˌjer-ən-ˈtä-lə-jist 

noun

Examples of gerontology in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Two years earlier, my father had decided to leave a successful business in mid-career to pursue a doctorate in gerontology, the study of aging. —Andrew B. Frank, Baltimore Sun, 14 Apr. 2024

Baker, a gerontology and geriatric medicine professor at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, has studied aging and cognitive decline for many years. —Avery Hurt, Discover Magazine, 26 Feb. 2024

Valter Longo, professor of gerontology and biological sciences at the University of Southern California, said taking a large amount of supplements risked adverse interactions. —Christopher Beam, New York Times, 12 Jan. 2024

Paul Shiels, a professor of cellular gerontology at the University of Glasgow, who was not involved in the new research, says the study was well powered with sizable cohorts. —Lori Youmshajekian, Scientific American, 6 Dec. 2023

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from French gérontologie, from géronto- geronto- + -logie -logy

Note: The French word was apparently introduced by Élie metchnikoff in Études sur la nature humaine: essai de philosophie optimiste (Paris, 1903), p. 386: "Il nous parait très probable que l'étude scientifique de la vieillesse et de la mort qui devra constituer deux branches de la science, la Gérontologie et la Tanatologie, amènera de grandes modifications dans la marche de la période avancée de la vie." ("It appears very likely to us that the scientific study of old age and death that will have to constitute two branches of science, gerontology and thanatology, will bring about great changes in the course of the last period of life.") The term appears as gerontologija in the corresponding Russian text (Ètjudy o prirodě čelověka [Moscow, 1904], p. 214).

First Known Use

1903, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

gerontology

noun

ger·​on·​tol·​o·​gy -ə-jē 

plural gerontologies

: the comprehensive study of aging and the problems of the aged compare geriatric sense 1

gerontological

jə-ˌränt-ᵊl-ˈäj-i-kəl 

adjective

also gerontologic

-ik