lifer

noun

lif·​er ˈlī-fər 

1

: a person sentenced to imprisonment for life

2

: a person who makes a career of one of the armed forces

3

: a person who has made a lifelong commitment (as to a way of life)

Examples of lifer in a Sentence

He was a lifer at the factory.

Recent Examples on the Web

That's not to say everything's going to be precisely to every van lifer's taste. — New Atlas, 29 July 2026

Other information voters should know A Kansas City lifer, Ellington graduated from Paseo High School, Penn Valley University and the University of Missouri-Kansas City. — Ilana Arougheti, Kansas City Star, 27 July 2026

All the Louisiana lifers create a richer, deeper culture with their own food (gumbo and beignets), music (New Orleans is the birthplace of jazz) and festivals (Mardi Gras). — Matt Baker, New York Times, 17 July 2026

Ibiza’s lifers protested its fifth-wave gentrification, and its dance floors got sliced up by VIP booths and lit with teens filming content. — Max Marshall, Vanity Fair, 15 July 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1827, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for lifer

• cipher
• cypher
• fifer
• heifer
• pfeiffer
• decipher