Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.

Definitions: Senescence |
SenescenceNoun1. The organic process of growing older and showing the effects of increasing age. 2. The property characteristic of old age. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "senescence" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1985. (references) |
Note: Senescence \Se*nes"cence\, noun. [See Senescent.]. (Websters 1913) |
| Domain | Definitions |
Environment | The aging process. Sometimes used to describe lakes or other bodies of water in advanced stages of eutrophication. Also used to describe plants and animals. (references) |
Medicine | The bodily and mental state associated with advancing age. Source: European Union. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Cellular senescence refers to a phenomena where isolated cells demonstrate a limited ability to divide in culture. Organismal senescence refers to the aging of organisms.
Organismal aging is generally characterized by the declining ability to respond to stress, increasing homeostatic imbalance and increased risk of disease. Because of this, death is the ultimate consequence of aging.
Genetic and environmental interventions are known to affect the life span of model organsims. This gives many hope that human aging can be slowed or changed. Dietary calorie restriction, by 30 percent for example, extends the life span of yeast, worms, flies, mice, and monkeys. Several genes are known to be necessary for this extension, and modification of these genes is also sufficient to produce the same effect as diet.
The process of senescence is complex, and may derive from a variety of different mechanisms and exist for a variety of different reasons. Senescence is a universal biological phenomea, at least amongst eukaryotic organisms. Yet the average lifespan within and between species can very greatly. This suggests that both genetic and environmental factors contribute to aging.
Theories that explain senescence can generally be divided between the programmed and error theories of aging. Programmed theories imply that aging is regulated by biological clocks operating throughout the life span. This regulation would depend on changes in gene expression that affect the systems responsible for maintenance, repair and defense responses. Error theories blame environmental insults to living organisms that induce cummulative damage at various levels as the cause of aging (e.g., DNA damage, oxygen radicals, cross-linking).
One potential cause of senescence is the accumulation of mutations in DNA, eventually leading to the progressive loss of key genes. Another is the shortening of telomeres in the process of DNA replication during cell division.
One view is that it is due to a particular DNA programming that has the sole purpose to "clean" Earth from old genes and assure offspring better living conditions through benign mutations.
One possible mechanism may be "senescence genes". Genes which have a deleterious effect on individual's fitness are selected against by natural selection. Mutations in these genes which postpone the deleterious effect of the gene to a later time in individual's life history reduce the effect of natural selection to the gene, because the selection has less time to act on it. If the gene doesn't have a negatgive effect until after the individual has reproduced, the gene may escape natural selection altogether, because when selection starts to affect the gene, it has already propagated to the next generation.
Lately research on a worm called Caenorhabditis elegans have demonstrated that aging is in part regulated by genes. The worm's short life span can be increased by more than 200 percent through genetic engineering. For example, mutations that affect insulin-like signaling in worms, flies and mice are associated with extended lifespan.
Lately the role of telomeres has aroused general interest, especially with a view to the possible genetically adverse effects of cloning. The successive shortening of the chromosomal telomeres with each cell cycle is also believed to influence the vitality of the cell, thus contributing to aging. There have, on the other hand, also been reports that cloning could alter the shortening of telomeres.
It is also suggested that damage caused by free radicals in the body are in part responsible for aging.
Suggests that paradoxical conjecture that biological systems start their adult life with a high load of initial damage.Theories of aging
Evolutionary theories
Gene regulation
Cellular senescence
Free radicals
Reliability theory
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Senescence."
Synonyms: SenescenceSynonyms: agedness (n), ageing (n), aging (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Age | Noun: age; oldness; Adjective: old age, advanced age, golden years; senility, senescence; years, anility, gray hairs, climacteric, grand climacteric, declining years, decrepitude, hoary age, caducity, superannuation; second childhood, second childishness; dotage; vale of years, decline of life, "sear and yellow leaf"; threescore years and ten; green old age, ripe age; longevity; time of life. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Senescence |
| Specialty definitions using "senescence": Aging, Premature ♦ Erythrocyte Aging ♦ SEASONALLY DISTINCT LAND COVER REGIONS. (references) |
| Domain | Title |
Books |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| "Senescence" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 98.04% of the time. "Senescence" is used about 51 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 98.04% | 50 | 48,117 |
| Noun (proper) | 1.96% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 51 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
senescence | 15 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "senescence"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | stárnutí (ageing). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | senescentia, senescens, alderdomssvaekkelse, alderdom (old age), ælden. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | senescentie, senescentia, het oud worden. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | ikääntyvät aivot (aging brain, brain senescence). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | sénescence. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | Vergreisung (ageing, senility). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | γηρασκείν, γηρασμόσ, γήρασ (senility). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | "ז"ק ות (aging, sinility). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | senescenza (ageing, aging). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 노 . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | shennid (oldness, staleness). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | enescencesay senescência (ageing, aging). (various references) старение (ageing, consenescence). (various references) senectud (senility). (various references) hjärnans åldrande (aging brain, brain senescence), åldrande hjärna (aging brain, brain senescence). (various references) ชรา าพ. (various references) yaşlılık (age, old age, senile, senility), ihtiyarlık (decrepitude, dotage, old age, senility). (various references) старіння (ageing, aging, obsolescence, obsoletion). (various references) sự gi yếu. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "senescence": senescences. (additional references) | |
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"Senescence" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: senescense, senesence, sensescence. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "senescence" (pronounced sune"suns) |
| 7 | -u n e" s u n s | evanescence, luminescence. |
| 5 | -e" s u n s | acquiescence, adolescence, convalescence, essence, obsolescence, phosphorescence, quintessence. |
| 4 | -s u n s | absence, beneficence, innocence, licence, license, nuisance, reconnaissance, reminiscence, reticence. |
| 3 | -u n s | abeyance, abhorrence, abstinence, abundance, acceptance, accordance, acquaintance, adherence, admirations, admittance, affluence, allegiance, alliance, allowance, ambiance, ambience, ambivalence, ambulance, annoyance, appearance, appliance, arrogance, ascendance, assistance, assurance, attendance, audience, avoidance, balance, belligerence, benevolence, bioscience, brilliance, cadence, capacitance, chrominance, circumference, clairvoyance, Clarence, clearance, coexistence, cognizance, coherence, coincidence, coinsurance, comeuppance, competence, compliance, concurrence, condolence, conference, confidence, confluence, conformance, congruence, connivance, conscience, consequence, consistence, continuance, contrivance, convenience, convergence, conveyance, correspondence, countenance, counterbalance, counterintelligence, credence, dalliance, decadence, Defeasance, deference, defiance, deliverance, dependence, deterrence, deviance, difference, diligence, disallowance, disappearance, discontinuance, disobedience, dissidence, dissonance, distance, disturbance, divergence, dominance, ebullience, elegance, eloquence, emergence, eminence, endurance, entrance, equivalence, evidence, excellence, existence, expedience, experience, extravagance, exuberance, flamboyance, Florence, forbearance, fragrance, furtherance, governance, grievance, guidance, hindrance, ignorance, imbalance, immanence, imminence, impatience, impedance, importance, impotence, imprudence, inadvertence, incidence, incoherence, incompetence, incontinence, inconvenience, independence, indifference, inductance, indulgence, inexperience, inference, influence, inheritance, insignificance, insistence, insolence, instance, insurance, intelligence, interdependence, interference, intolerance, intransigence, invariance, irrelevance, irreverence, issuance, jurisprudence, luminance, maintenance, malfeasance, negligence, neuroscience, noncompliance, noninterference, nonviolence, obedience, observance, occurrence, omnipotence, omnipresence, opulence, ordinance, Ordnance, overabundance, overconfidence, overdependence, overreliance, parlance, patience, penance, performance, permanence, persecutions, perseverance, persistence, pestilence, petulance, pittance, precedence, predominance, preeminence, preference, preponderance, prescience, presence, prevalence, prominence, protuberance, provenance, Providence, province, prudence, pseudoscience, radiance, reappearance, reassurance, recalcitrance, recognizance, recurrence, reemergence, reference, reinspections, reinsurance, relevance, reliance, reluctance, remembrance, remittance, repentance, resemblance, residence, resilience, resistance, resonance, resurgence, reverence, riddance, science, semblance, sentence, sequence, severance, significance, silence, submergence, subservience, subsidence, subsistence, substance, surveillance, sustenance, teleconference, temperance, tolerance, transcendence, transference, transience, turbulence, unbalance, utterance, Valence, variance, vehemence, vengeance, videoconference, vigilance, violence, virulence. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "c-c-e-e-e-e-n-n-s-s" | |
-3 letters: essence. | |
-4 letters: censes, scenes. | |
-5 letters: cense, nenes, scene, sense. | |
| Words containing the letters "c-c-e-e-e-e-n-n-s-s" | |
+1 letter: senescences. | |
+2 letters: evanescences. | |
+3 letters: juvenescences. | |
+4 letters: concretenesses. | |
+5 letters: conceitednesses, concertednesses, condescendences, connectednesses, rejuvenescences. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)53 65 6E 65 73 63 65 6E 63 65 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references)... . -. . ... -.-. . -. -.-. . |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01010011 01100101 01101110 01100101 01110011 01100011 01100101 01101110 01100011 01100101 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)S e n e s c e n c e |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0053 0065 006E 0065 0073 0063 0065 006E 0063 0065 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)53718071856971806971 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Usage Frequency 6. Expressions: Internet 7. Translations: Modern 8. Derivations | 9. Rhymes 10. Anagrams 11. Orthography 12. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.