deadline
Americannoun
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deadlines
plural
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the time by which something must be finished or submitted; the latest time for finishing something.
a five o'clock deadline.
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a line or limit that must not be passed.
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(formerly) a boundary around a military prison beyond which a prisoner could not venture without risk of being shot by the guards.
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of deadline
Explanation
A deadline is a date or time when something must be finished. At work and school, most projects have deadlines. If you don’t get your paper in by the deadline, you won’t get a good grade. If you think missing a deadline and getting a low grade is bad, think about how this word came to be: It was a line that went around a prison and if a prisoner crossed it, he could be shot. Now that’s a deadline! A deadline sounds scary, and it does frighten a lot of people — if you don't get a paper in by the deadline, you could lose points or fail. But hey, you’ll live.
Vocabulary lists containing deadline
"LAFFF"
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Employment, List 1
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocabulary for April 15–April 21, 2023
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
That is about a month later than the initial deadline.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
Paramount faces a June 4 deadline to wrap up the purchase — or pay a $7 billion breakup fee to Warner.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
An ugly family breakup is escalating ahead of an election deadline for the party to replace the Ohio congressman on the ballot.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
Member associations had been given a deadline of 19 September to approve the plan or miss out on the extra funding that came as part of the deal.
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026
For understandable reasons, it would fail to meet that deadline.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
Both parties had asked the court to move quickly ahead of printing deadlines for November ballots.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
As a journalist, it's easy to become absorbed by the rush for information, deadlines and bringing our audience to the centre of the story.
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026
Some possible answers include because you are in a low tax bracket, Roth conversions make sense, RMDs are kicking in and inherited IRA distributions have withdrawal deadlines.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 27, 2026
We have to say no a hundred times a day and still keep people motivated on weekly deadlines.
From Salon ● Jul. 5, 2026
He couldn't find volunteer counsel for his postconviction appeals, so most of his legal claims were procedurally barred because he had missed the filing deadlines.
From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
