long-lasting
Americanadjective
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enduring or existing for a long period of time.
a long-lasting friendship.
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effective for a relatively long period of time.
a long-lasting pain reliever.
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resisting the effects of wear or use over a long period.
a long-lasting fabric used for work clothes.
Etymology
Origin of long-lasting
First recorded in 1520–30
Explanation
Long-lasting things stick around for a while. If the medicine you're taking for your sore throat has long-lasting side effects, they'll affect you for many weeks or even months. A long-lasting relationship lasts for years, and long-lasting makeup stays on your face all day, until you wash it off at night. This adjective can mean that something is durable or resilient, or in other words that it holds up over time. Other things are simply long-lasting by coincidence — they've just been there for a long time.
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.
What’s more, the war has done long-lasting damage to infrastructure, and some facilities could take years to come back—if they come back at all.
From Barron's • May 6, 2026
New research from the University of Colorado Boulder points to a little-known brain circuit that may determine whether short-term pain fades away or becomes a long-lasting problem.
From Science Daily • Apr. 27, 2026
“I believe the situation in the Middle East will have meaningful and long-lasting implications for the global energy sector,” Miller said.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 24, 2026
But another major water source for Southern California, the Colorado River, also has been affected by a long-lasting megadrought that began in 2000.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 21, 2026
And nowhere else have people living at such heights—in places where most crops won’t grow, earthquakes and landslides are frequent, and extremes of weather are the norm—repeatedly created technically advanced, long-lasting civilizations.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
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.
