long-term
Americanadjective
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covering a relatively long period of time.
a long-term lease.
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maturing over or after a relatively long period of time.
a long-term loan; a long-term bond.
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(of a capital gain or loss) derived from the sale or exchange of an asset held for more than a specified time, as six months or one year.
adjective
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lasting, staying, or extending over a long time
long-term prospects
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finance maturing after a long period of time
a long-term bond
Etymology
Origin of long-term
First recorded in 1905–10
Explanation
Something that's long-term has lasted for quite a while. If you have a long-term girlfriend, she's been in your life for years. Use the adjective long-term to describe things that are so enduring that they're nearly permanent. Someone who's a long-term resident of Canada has lived there for a very long time, and news of long-term unemployment is discouraging because it means people have been out of work for months and months. Long-term was originally a word describing only insurance policies, in the 1870's.
Vocabulary lists containing long-term
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.
Dakin said those costs underlined the urgency of agreeing a long-term plan.
From BBC • Apr. 12, 2026
Unaccompanied children are first held by Homeland Security before being turned over to the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which is within the Department of Health and Human Services, for long-term housing.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 11, 2026
The discovery connected cases across different countries and helped establish a long-term collaboration with Greifswald University, led by Professor Andreas Greinacher.
From Science Daily • Apr. 10, 2026
Nvidia is range-bound within the context of its secular uptrend, with deteriorating long-term momentum.
From Barron's • Apr. 10, 2026
Yet the compression brings a compensating benefit: long-term comparisons of regions yield insights that cannot be won from short-term studies of single societies.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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.
