prolonged
Americanadjective
-
lasting a long time; lengthy.
Regular or prolonged absence from school without a valid reason may result in the absentee being barred from examinations.
-
lengthened or extended in time or space.
Technological innovations in the ICU have led to artificially prolonged life, with associated costs.
Abnormally shortened or prolonged telomeres are a hallmark of cancer.
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of prolonged
Explanation
Something prolonged is long and drawn-out — it's taking longer than it should. A prolonged wait is usually annoying. If a fan throws a drink on the court during a basketball game and it takes an hour to clean it up, and then another hour to re-wax the floor, and then another hour for the players to warm up again...that's a prolonged delay. Anything prolonged has been stretched out further than it should be. America's war with Vietnam was prolonged much longer than anyone expected. If something is tedious, time-consuming, and feels like it's taking forever, it's prolonged.
Vocabulary lists containing prolonged
The Call of the Wild
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Boy: Tales of Childhood
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Britain's Finest Hour Speech - Winston Churchill (1940)
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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.
The RHS said prolonged hot weather and drought, followed by a wet autumn, could help some fungi flourish.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
Although new tanker orders have increased, most vessels won’t be delivered until 2028-29, leaving the market exposed to prolonged capacity constraints.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
Whilst scattered showers will affect the north-west on Wednesday, a spell of more prolonged rain is expected in eastern England - good news for areas that saw very little rain over the past month.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
People who are more active generally tend to have healthier bowel function, while prolonged inactivity is often associated with slower digestion.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 5, 2026
To catch it, you must be part of the 5 percent of the population without immunity, and you must be in prolonged physical contact with someone who is sick.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
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.
