longstanding
Americanadjective
Etymology
Origin of longstanding
Explanation
Anything longstanding has been around for a long time. If it's a longstanding tradition for your school's senior class to play a prank, that means it was even going on back when your grandfather's class let hundreds of crickets loose in the halls. Humans keeping cats as pets is a longstanding custom, and the habit of cooking food before eating it is also longstanding. You can call yourself a longstanding customer of your town's last remaining video store if you've been going there for years, or a longstanding fan of your favorite tennis player if you've followed her entire career. The adjective longstanding has been around since the early 1800s, so it's longstanding too.
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.
“We have laid a very strong foundation in term one to address some longstanding city problems,” she said in an interview.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2026
The paper's report comes amid longstanding US concerns about China's access to advanced computing technology, which is considered crucial to developing artificial intelligence systems.
From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2026
Traylor pointed to the mayor’s Inside Safe initiative, which cleared a longstanding homeless encampment on Western Avenue at 88th Street, not far from her home.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 30, 2026
How do you tell dementia-driven behavior from longstanding patterns that still hurt?
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 30, 2026
I mention the recent, widely publicized remarks of Elphias Doge, Special Advisor to the Wizengamot and longstanding friend of Albus Dumbledore’s, that “Skeeter’s book contains less fact than a Chocolate Frog card.”
From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
