long-term
Americanadjective
-
covering a relatively long period of time.
a long-term lease.
-
maturing over or after a relatively long period of time.
a long-term loan; a long-term bond.
-
(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
-
lasting, staying, or extending over a long time
long-term prospects
-
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.
Surgery is among the options that will be considered by the Gunners when he returns to London, though an operation would probably require a long-term lay-off to recover.
From BBC ● Jul. 16, 2026
Management has decided Verizon needs a minimum of 1,000 corporate-owned stores for the next three years as part of its long-term strategy, according to an internal memo reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 16, 2026
Those fundamentals will have far more impact on the stock’s long-term returns than whether it trades above or below its offering price in the months after coming to market.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 16, 2026
But the expected uptick in commercial deliveries from newly certified aircraft is central to the company's long-term target of achieving $10 billion in annual free cash flow.
From Barron's ● Jul. 16, 2026
The long-term advantages of Jay’s Treaty, however, were wholly invisible to most Americans in the crucible of the moment.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
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.
