Meaning of second childhood | Babel Free

Definitions

1. The period or state of cognitive decline of an elderly person, characterized by childlike judgment and behavior.
   idiomatic
2. A childlike state in any adult, resulting from mental illness, trauma, or other conditions.
   idiomatic

Equivalents

Examples

“King David being in his childhood, an old man, in his second childhood, for all old men are twice children, as the proverb is, Senex bis puer.”

“"You think I'm in my second childhood, I know!" croaked the old woman.”

“Old age is not always second childhood, says he. "There is often, instead, a second prime."”

“For myself, although at the commencement of the voyage I had been in bad health, and was at all times of a delicate constitution, I suffered less than any of us, being much less reduced in frame, and retaining my powers of mind in a surprising degree, while the rest were completely prostrated in intellect, and seemed to be brought to a species of second childhood, generally simpering in their expressions, with idiotic smiles, and uttering the most absurd platitudes.”

“But take care of yourself; a man's second childhood begins when a woman gets hold of him.”

CEFR level