With age, happiness was more likely to mean calm, contentment and peace. Older adults are more likely to see time as finite and place greater weight on the present. In the control condition, younger adults defined happiness more as excitement, while the older group defined it more as peacefulness. Our measurements can miss the happiness they seekThere is a practical consequence for anyone designing products, services or communities for older adults. None of this means all older adults are content, or that calm should be used to dismiss loneliness, depression, pain or financial pressure.