eldership

1. Greater than another in age or seniority.

2. Superior to another or others, as in rank.

1. An older person.

2. An older, influential member of a family, tribe, or community.

3. One of the governing officers of a church, often having pastoral or teaching functions.

4. Mormon Church A member of the higher order of priesthood.

Usage Note: The adjective elder is not a synonym for elderly. In comparisons between two persons, elder means "older" but not necessarily "old": My elder sister is sixteen; my younger, twelve. (Eldest is used when three or more persons are compared: He is the eldest of four brothers.) In other contexts elder does denote relatively advanced age but with the added component of respect for a person's achievement, as in an elder statesman. If age alone is to be expressed, one should use older or elderly rather than elder: A survey of older Americans; an elderly waiter. · Unlike elder and its related forms, the adjectives old, older, and oldest are applied to things as well as to persons.