lifetime
[lahyf-tahym]
- the time that the life of someone or something continues; the term of a life: peace within our lifetime.
- Physics. mean life.
- for the duration of a person's life: He has a lifetime membership in the organization.
Origin of lifetime
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for lifetime
Contemporary Examples
The sad fact is that more than 41 percent of trans people admit making at least one suicide attempt in their lifetime.
If you answered seven or more of these correctly, you are eligible for a lifetime supply of Metamucil.
Having graduated Juilliard last spring, Alex Sharp is too young to have given the performance of a lifetime.
Hedwig, Hugh & Michael Cera: 12 Powerhouse Theater Performances of 2014Janice Kaplan
December 31, 2014
Det. Rafael Ramos spent a lifetime trying to become a police officer, entering the academy at age 38.
Each well requires 1,500—2,000 truck trips over the lifetime of the well.
Historical Examples
In my lifetime—in depression and in war—they have awaited our defeat.
Yet he was a rare man, such as few meet with in the course of a lifetime.
Biographical SketchesNathaniel Hawthorne
It takes a lifetime, Mr. Vavasor, to learn where to pay our taxes.
Weighed and WantingGeorge MacDonald
But the gentler fibers of the man were atrophied by the habits of a lifetime.
Within the LawMarvin Dana
Few men hold such a position in their own lifetime, and have it so acknowledged.
De ProfundisOscar Wilde
lifetime
- the length of time a person or animal is alive
- (as modifier)a lifetime supply
- the length of time that something functions, is useful, etc
- physics the average time of existence of an unstable or reactive entity, such as a nucleus, excited state, elementary particle, etc; mean life
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for lifetime
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
lifetime
(līf′tīm′)
- The period of time during which an individual is alive.
- The period of time during which property, an object, a process, or a phenomenon exists or functions.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
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