# age before beauty

idiom

Source: https://englishreference.com/idiom/age-before-beauty
Updated: 2026-08-10

## Meaning

A phrase said to allow older people to go before younger ones.

## Examples

- Age before beauty, so please go through the door first.
- As we reached the elevator, my grandfather gestured for me to enter, but I smiled and said, age before beauty.
- With a playful bow and a polite gesture toward the entrance, he insisted that age before beauty should be the rule of the day.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.