bereavement
/bərˈivmənt/The period of deep sadness after someone close to you dies.
Example: The company gives staff a week of bereavement leave.
C220 words · Proficient
Life Stages vocabulary — C2
Life Stages vocabulary for how English speaks carefully about the end of a life, including swan song, valediction and eulogy, plus octogenarian and venerable.
20 questions
Words in this set
20legacy
/ˈlɛɡəsi/The lasting mark that a person's life or work leaves behind.
Example:
Her legacy is the scholarship that still helps students.
rite of passage
A ceremony or experience that marks a person moving from one stage of life into the next.
Example:
For many teenagers, a first job is a real rite of passage.
senescence
/səˈnɛsəns/The biological process of growing old.
Example:
Scientists are studying senescence to understand why cells stop dividing.
swan song
A person's final performance or achievement before retiring or dying.
Example:
The concert turned out to be the singer's swan song.
obituary
/oʊˈbɪtʃuˌɛri/A published notice about someone's life, printed shortly after they have died.
Example:
The newspaper printed a long obituary for the retired judge.
posthumous
/ˈpɑstʃʊməs/Happening or given after a person has died.
Example:
The soldier received a posthumous medal for his bravery.
eulogy
/ˈjulədʒi/A speech given at a funeral that praises the life of the person who has died.
Example:
His daughter gave a moving eulogy at the funeral.
valediction
A formal act or speech of saying goodbye.
Example:
The retiring headteacher gave a warm valediction to the graduating class.
octogenarian
/ˌɑktədʒɪˈnɛriən/Someone between eighty and ninety years old.
Example:
An octogenarian in the front row corrected the historian twice.
intestate
Having died without leaving a valid will.
Example:
He died intestate, and the argument lasted longer than he had.
nuptials
/ˈnʌptʃəlz/A wedding ceremony.
Example:
The nuptials were held in a chapel that seated forty at most.
conjugal
/ˈkɑndʒəɡəl/Relating to marriage and the relationship between husband and wife.
Example:
The novel treats conjugal duty as a kind of quiet war.
moribund
/ˈmɔrəbənd/Close to death, or no longer active and about to end.
Example:
He described the family firm as moribund rather than bankrupt.
decrepitude
The weak condition of being old and worn out.
Example:
He wrote about decrepitude with more humour than self-pity.
superannuated
Too old to be useful or to continue working.
Example:
The committee treated him as superannuated the day he turned sixty-five.
venerable
/ˈvɛnərəbəl/Deserving respect because of great age or long service.
Example:
The venerable headmaster had taught three generations of the same family.
patrimony
/ˈpætrəˌmoʊni/Property or tradition inherited from your father or ancestors.
Example:
The whole patrimony amounted to a farmhouse and forty acres.
septuagenarian
/sɛpˌtʃuədʒəˈnɛriən/Someone between seventy and eighty years old.
Example:
A septuagenarian finished the course ahead of half the field.
sexagenarian
Someone between sixty and seventy years old.
Example:
Every sexagenarian in the choir had been there since the seventies.
