lifelong
Americanadjective
adjective
Etymology
Origin of lifelong
Explanation
Something lifelong lasts your entire life, or for most of it. A lifelong friendship might have begun in kindergarten, and it continues today. You can describe your grandfather as a lifelong Republican if he's voted for the Republican candidate in every election all through his life. You could also say you have a lifelong hatred of green vegetables if you've refused broccoli and spinach since you first ate solid food. The word lifelong, meaning "continuing for a lifetime," was coined in the nineteenth century.
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 spark was ignited on September 23 when 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal was evicted from her lifelong Madrid home on a stretcher after the real estate firm that owned the apartment drastically hiked the rent.
From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026
The answer, in the end, was by breaking his lifelong conditioning, contradicting one of the main qualifications of heroic worthiness established by a council of powerful beings most people aren’t even aware exists.
From Salon ● Oct. 5, 2026
For a Padres fan, it goes from a glorious dinger to a lifelong hatred of roofs and roof cables.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 2026
During the coronavirus lockdown in 2020, Benjamin Williams, a lifelong film fan, watched 800 films.
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026
This is the first time it occurs to me that a couple of lifelong churchgoers might feel pretty weird that their grandson is having a bar mitzvah.
From "Linked" by Gordon Korman
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.
