life-changing

adjective

life-chang·​ing ˈlīf-ˌchān-jiŋ 

: having or capable of having a significant impact on someone's life

a life-changing career opportunity

a life-changing injury

… in 1986 he took a year off to travel. The experience was life-changing and led to his 1991 decision to pursue writing full-time.

—Carolyn Hart

(humorous) Made with fresh carrots, pineapple, a blend of warm spices and a homemade brown butter cream cheese frosting, this carrot cake recipe is life-changing …

—Jocelyn Delk Adams

Examples of life-changing in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Klassen recently won the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, receiving the life-changing news one morning quite by surprise (highly recommend listening to the phone call between Klassen and the entire jury). — Literary Hub, 18 Sep. 2026

Mendoza received the life-changing call from the Raiders at home in South Florida instead of taking in the draft festivities in Pittsburgh. — Skyler Caruso, PEOPLE, 16 Sep. 2026

This dates back to the dawn of consumer-facing chatbot AI, which didn’t have a long honeymoon period as exciting and life-changing tech. — Ashley Gold, semafor.com, 15 Sep. 2026

When values, family and life-changing consequences are involved, human judgment should have the final say. — Expert Panel®, Forbes.com, 14 Sep. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1747, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for life-changing

• interchanging
• rearranging
• arranging
• exchanging
• unchanging
• changing
• ranging