variants or less commonly life-or-death
: involving or culminating in life or death : vitally important as if involving life or death

Examples of life-and-death in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
But North Carolina doesn’t require specific training for its county emergency managers, who are tasked with enormous life-and-death decisions. Jennifer Berry Hawes, ProPublica, 19 May 2025 We're also quickly swept up in a trio of life-and-death cases, each with their own accompanying baggage. Randall Colburn, EW.com, 16 May 2025 The life-and-death stakes series starred Zoe Cipres, The White Lotus‘s Kekoa Kekumano, Arielle Kebbel, Robbie Magasiva, Adam Demos and Alex Aiono. Etan Vlessing, HollywoodReporter, 7 May 2025 Leon Rose watched in the first round of the playoffs as his team played a life-and-death series with a young and inexperienced Pistons team, one that felt as if both teams had match points in every single game. Mike Lupica, New York Daily News, 2 May 2025 See All Example Sentences for life-and-death

Word History

First Known Use

1804, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of life-and-death was in 1804

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Cite this Entry

“Life-and-death.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/life-and-death. Accessed 25 May. 2025.

Kids Definition

life-and-death

adjective
: ending in life or death : deciding which will survive
a life-and-death struggle

More from Merriam-Webster on life-and-death

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