longevity
Americannoun
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longevities
plural
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a long individual life; great duration of individual life.
Our family is known for its longevity.
-
the length or duration of life.
research in human longevity.
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length of service, tenure, etc.; seniority.
promotions based on longevity.
noun
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long life
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relatively long duration of employment, service, etc
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of longevity
From the Latin word longaevitās, dating back to 1605–15. See longevous, -ity
Explanation
Something with longevity has the ability to last for a long time. While tortoises are not known for their quickness, their longevity is amazing. Just ask the Hare. At the root of longevity is the word long. So when you see longevity, think “a long time." In fact, this word has some serious longevity, since it's been around since the 1600s. Longevity is most commonly used to describe the length of one’s lifetime, but it can also mean a long duration, such as one’s longevity working for a certain company for an extended period of time.
Vocabulary lists containing longevity
100 Top "SAT" Words
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List 1
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I've Been to the Mountaintop" (1968)
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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.
See Examples For:
The numbers over such a period of longevity are incredible.
From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026
As the longevity physician Hillary Lin described it at a women’s health event, longevity medicine is “good medicine, practiced early.”
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 5, 2026
But increasing grip strength in isolation won’t increase your longevity, notes Fredericson.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026
Scientists can now use the dataset to investigate the genetic changes associated with flight, echolocation, longevity, and disease resistance.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 30, 2026
“Not too short, not too long. Our longevity will be adequate, not cut off too soon, not so long we become a burden.”
From "The Joy Luck Club" by Amy Tan
A team of researchers recently analyzed the longevities and lifestyles of nearly 1,000 species of mammals, ranging from aardvarks to zebras.
From Scientific American ● Jan. 31, 2023
For each of these types of tissues, propose a reason based on internal and external factors and function that might account for the differences among their longevities.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022
Hufeland again remarks that the greatest longevities pertain to wise and well-regulated lives.
From Lectures on the true, the beautiful and the good by Victor Cousin
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.
