lifetime

noun

life·time | \ ˈlīf-ˌtīm

Definition of lifetime

(Entry 1 of 2)

1a : the duration of the existence of a living being (such as a person or an animal) or a thing (such as a star or a subatomic particle)

b : life sense 12

2 : an amount accumulated or experienced in a lifetime a lifetime of regrets

lifetime

adjective

Definition of lifetime (Entry 2 of 2)

1 : lifelong

2 : of long duration or continuance lifetime legislation

3 : measured or achieved over the span of a career a baseball player's lifetime batting average

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Examples of lifetime in a Sentence

Noun

a lifetime spent traveling the world It would have taken me a lifetime to read all those books. Childhood seems a lifetime ago now! a chemical with a lifetime of only a few minutes the lifetime of a planet

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

Elizabeth went from Princess Elizabeth to Queen Elizabeth on February 6, 1952, when George VI died of a coronary thrombosis after battling health problems stemming from, among other things, a lifetime of heavy smoking. — Kayleigh Roberts, Marie Claire, "Queen Elizabeth Will Officially Hit 67 Years on the Throne This Week—But Here's Why She Won't Celebrate the Occasion," 3 Feb. 2019 The fight to decarbonize and eventually go carbon negative will last beyond the lifetime of anyone reading this post. — David Roberts, Vox, "The case for “conditional optimism” on climate change," 29 Jan. 2019 For Nanci, from Utah, this lack of information contributed to a lifetime of misdiagnoses. — Fiona Tapp, SELF, "What It’s Like to Fill in the Gaps in Your Health History When You’re Adopted," 18 Jan. 2019 Above this exemption, taxable gifts are subtracted from an individual’s lifetime estate- and gift-tax exemption, which is currently $11.4 million per person. — WSJ, "WSJ Tax Guide 2019: Estate and Gift Taxes," 15 Feb. 2019 This is possible since linen, if cared for properly, doesn’t wear out during one lifetime. — Elle Decor Editors, ELLE Decor, "Everything You Need to Know About Caring for Tabletop Accessories," 11 Feb. 2019 For von Braun, this first launch, dubbed Apollo 4, was the culmination of a lifetime spent in pursuit of the stars. — Alex Hollings, Popular Mechanics, "The Saturn V Story: From Nazi Roots to America's Moon Rocket," 6 Feb. 2019 But their love in that movie will last a lifetime (or 2 hours and 16 minutes). — Amy Mackelden, Harper's BAZAAR, "Bradley Cooper Just Joined Lady Gaga Onstage in Vegas & Their Chemistry Was Unreal," 27 Jan. 2019 But our contemporary landscape, replete with theoretically smart handputers, has an amazing past that extends well beyond my lifetime. — Cyrus Farivar, Ars Technica, "Try your hand at being an operator at the Roseville Telephone Museum," 22 Dec. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'lifetime.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.