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:
On the right, Jeremie Frimpong has struggled to convince so far and Liverpool reportedly failed in an attempt to bring Malo Gusto on loan from Chelsea on deadline day.
From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2026
Filing Form 5500-EZ may not be especially difficult, but missing the deadline can result in significant penalties.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 2, 2026
When the Cubs acquired Crow-Armstrong from the New York Mets as a low-level prospect at the trade deadline in 2021, they were initially a bit confused.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
Postal Service staff were rushing to meet an internal Sept. 1 deadline to get the system up-and-running, according to the whistleblower’s account.
From Salon ● Sep. 2, 2026
“Your deadline with the Council of Cloven Elders.”
From "The Battle of the Labyrinth" by Rick Riordan
It has more rules, more recordkeeping and more deadlines.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 2, 2026
I’d become used to a life where momentum meant deadlines and notifications.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
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
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.
