noun
-
the blood, considered as vital to sustain life
-
the essential or animating force
Etymology
Origin of lifeblood
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.
“Investors are going to be focused on that metric and trends there, given engagement is really the lifeblood of the company and really what fuels the long-term revenue and earnings growth.”
From MarketWatch • Apr. 15, 2026
"Football was his lifeblood," said Jordan, noting that after the Bradford fire, Yorath attended the funerals of all those who died.
From BBC • Jan. 26, 2026
“Cargo remains the lifeblood of the U.S. economy. American farmers, manufacturers, retailers and consumers all depend on how well we move that cargo.”
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 22, 2026
By the time of the 1998 presidential election, the country’s economic crisis had become worse: The price of oil, the lifeblood of the economy, had collapsed to $10 a barrel.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 10, 2026
The portrait people were still missing from their frames; the whole place was eerily still, as if all its remaining lifeblood were concentrated in the Great Hall where the dead and the mourners were crammed.
From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling
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.
