I have to disagree with the two current answers. If you call someone "senile" it is hard to see how it would not be taken as an insult in this day and age.

Here are some usage notes from TheFreeDictionary.com:

In earlier writings one finds phrases such as "a senile maturity of judgment" and "green and vigorous senility," demonstrating that senile and senility have not always been burdened with their current negative connotations. These two words are examples of pejoration, the process by which a word's meaning changes for the worse over time. Even though senile (first recorded in 1661) and senility (first recorded in 1778) initially had neutral senses such as "pertaining to old age" (the sense of their Latin source, the adjective senlis), it is probable that the mental decline that sometimes accompanies old age eventually caused negative senses to predominate. Although recent medical research has demonstrated that the memory and cognitive disorders once designated by senility are often caused by various diseases rather than the aging process itself, it seems unlikely that the word will regain its neutral senses.


"Senility" is not a pejorative term. There is no other commonly-used phrase to describe this condition, the only plausible alternative being senile dementia, which is even worse sounding.