life-or-death
Americanadjective
Etymology
Origin of life-or-death
First recorded in 1680–90
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.
Dr Gillespie said issues with availability can mean they are often called into highly emotional situations at short notice, sometimes moving between a christening and a life-or-death situation in hospital.
From BBC
But there’s a difference—and it’s a life-or-death difference now—between protest and incitement.
“We are currently facing an urgent, life-or-death crisis.”
Treating life-or-death matters in an explicitly cartoonish manner is a graphic self-own.
From Salon
This is the human cycle, a tale as old as time that takes on a grim new undertone in a time when matters feel very much life-or-death.
From Salon
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.
