bucket list

American  

noun

Informal.

1. a list of things a person wants to achieve or experience, as before reaching a certain age or dying.

   a bucket list for a terminally ill patient;

   What’s on your summer bucket list?

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bucket list British  

noun

1. informal a list of experiences one wants to have before one dies

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Etymology

Origin of bucket list

First recorded in 2005–10; from the idiom kick the bucket “to die”

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bucket list

But something happens when you settle in, even to a place that’s on nobody’s bucket list.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026

Is there anything else on your bucket list?

From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026

As a theme park journalist, it was the absolute summit of my professional bucket list — always close yet somehow out of reach.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026

By the time we packed up our tents and chairs, my brother had crossed Melville’s masterpiece off his bucket list.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026

It isn’t with Abby, and I certainly won’t be crossing off that one item on Will’s bucket list, but just going makes me feel closer to them.

From "Five Feet Apart" by Rachael Lippincott

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