life insurance

American

noun

insurance providing for payment of a sum of money to a named beneficiary upon the death of the policyholder or to the policyholder if still living after reaching a specified age.

life insurance British

noun

another name for life assurance

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of life insurance

First recorded in 1800–10

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:

life insurance

WSJ | Buy Side: See the top considerations if you’re buying life insurance in your 40s.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026

Credit-card companies cannot touch your friend’s life insurance because the children were named beneficiaries.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 6, 2026

According to her complaint, Tenisha and Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s premarital agreement stated that the actor should purchase and maintain a term life insurance policy of $1 million with his wife as the sole beneficiary.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026

WSJ | Buy Side: See the best term life insurance companies based on cost, coverage features and more.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026

She was also looking at a life insurance commercial.

From "Sunny" by Jason Reynolds

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023