A person’s senile detachment can be hard rather than gentle.

Evidence

Her detachment had nothing to do with the gentle otherworldliness or contentedness of old people, her detachment was as hard and lean as the body in which it resided. — Karl Ove Knausgaard, A Death in the Family, 2457

Categorization

• DEFINE: Distinguishes this quality of grandma’s from ordinary old-age contentment or gentleness.
• XREF: connects to: A man’s power of concentration diminishes with age and distractions. — Hamlin Garland Munseys, A Daughter of the Middle Border, 1568