senile dementia

noun

, Pathology.

1. a syndrome of progressive, irreversible impairment of cognitive function, caused by organic factors and having its onset late in life.

senile dementia

noun

1. dementia starting in old age with no precipitating physical cause

Word History and Origins

Origin of senile dementia¹

First recorded in 1850–55

Example Sentences

Girls had to assist in caring for the elderly, including men suffering from senile dementia.

From BBC

There’s no evidence that he’s suffering from senile dementia, no matter how often ghoulish critics stitch together video clips of his gaffes.

From Los Angeles Times

“He sits there in senile dementia,” the governor said, “with gangrene heart and rotting brain, grimacing at every reform, chattering impotently at all things that are decent, frothing, fuming, violently gibbering, going down to his grave in snarling infamy.”

From Los Angeles Times

I was uncertain if this referred to Bud or to a literal blue jay, or if, perhaps, we were heading into the territory of senile dementia.

From Literature

The late California Supreme Court Justice Marshall F. McComb was forced to retire in 1977 at the age of 82 after he was found to have “senile dementia.”

From Los Angeles Times