prolonged
Americanadjective
-
lasting a long time; lengthy.
Regular or prolonged absence from school without a valid reason may result in the absentee being barred from examinations.
-
lengthened or extended in time or space.
Technological innovations in the ICU have led to artificially prolonged life, with associated costs.
Abnormally shortened or prolonged telomeres are a hallmark of cancer.
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of prolonged
Explanation
Something prolonged is long and drawn-out — it's taking longer than it should. A prolonged wait is usually annoying. If a fan throws a drink on the court during a basketball game and it takes an hour to clean it up, and then another hour to re-wax the floor, and then another hour for the players to warm up again...that's a prolonged delay. Anything prolonged has been stretched out further than it should be. America's war with Vietnam was prolonged much longer than anyone expected. If something is tedious, time-consuming, and feels like it's taking forever, it's prolonged.
Vocabulary lists containing prolonged
The Call of the Wild
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Boy: Tales of Childhood
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Britain's Finest Hour Speech - Winston Churchill (1940)
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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.
Big George’s run tends to be confused with prolonged success—it’s important to remember the last time the Yankees had a 17-year gap was from 1979 until 1996, Steinbrenner’s domineering, paws-on prime.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
Yorkshire officially entered drought status on Friday after a lack of spring and summer rainfall, having previously been classified as in a period of prolonged dry weather.
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026
A closer examination showed that the prolonged X-ray emission was being powered directly by the remnant left behind by the merger, rather than by the outward-moving blast wave.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 8, 2026
Whilst scattered showers will affect the north-west on Wednesday, a spell of more prolonged rain is expected in eastern England - good news for areas that saw very little rain over the past month.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
But the prolonged captivity, the uncertainty of the world, the habit of obedience had dried up the seeds of rebellion in his heart.
From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
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.
