1
a
: 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
2
: an amount accumulated or experienced in a lifetime
a lifetime of regrets
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
Synonyms
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
Rosemary Counter, Smithsonian Magazine, 17 Apr. 2024
One in eight women will develop breast cancer in her lifetime.
—Andrea Mandell, Peoplemag, 17 Apr. 2024
In a real estate upswing of a lifetime, central Denver homeowners lost ground.
—Aldo Svaldi, The Denver Post, 16 Apr. 2024
Jennifer Milo, the pioneering athletic director at Cal State San Marcos, is moving across campus after 12 years on the job and a lifetime in athletics.
—John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune, 16 Apr. 2024
Popular on Variety Veteran performer, martial artist and director Sammo Hung was given a lifetime achievement award.
—Patrick Frater, Variety, 15 Apr. 2024
This lifetime license arrives with the following apps: Access
Publisher
OneNote
Teams
Outlook
PowerPoint
Excel
Word
Paired with MS Office, Windows 11 Pro elevates users' computing experience with its intuitive OS interface.
—Stackcommerce Team, PCMAG, 15 Apr. 2024
The kid turned out to be a great asset to the department and would become a lifetime friend.
—Corky Carroll, Orange County Register, 12 Apr. 2024
Well, twice in a lifetime for her — the total solar eclipse on Monday.
—David Clarey, Journal Sentinel, 4 Apr. 2024
Stephan Rabimov, Forbes, 24 May 2021
In addition to keynote speeches, panel discussions, workshops and networking, the 2019 Music Biz conference will again take time to recognize both recent and lifetime achievements.
—Gary Graff, Billboard, 29 Apr. 2019
They are viewed as the most restrictive among the 15 states with consecutive or lifetime legislative term limits.
—David Eggert, Detroit Free Press, 20 Nov. 2019
Noun
Ironically, his name didn’t appear on his most famous and successful work during his lifetime.
—Rosemary Counter, Smithsonian Magazine, 17 Apr. 2024
One in eight women will develop breast cancer in her lifetime.
—Andrea Mandell, Peoplemag, 17 Apr. 2024
In a real estate upswing of a lifetime, central Denver homeowners lost ground.
—Aldo Svaldi, The Denver Post, 16 Apr. 2024
Jennifer Milo, the pioneering athletic director at Cal State San Marcos, is moving across campus after 12 years on the job and a lifetime in athletics.
—John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune, 16 Apr. 2024
Popular on Variety Veteran performer, martial artist and director Sammo Hung was given a lifetime achievement award.
—Patrick Frater, Variety, 15 Apr. 2024
This lifetime license arrives with the following apps: Access
Publisher
OneNote
Teams
Outlook
PowerPoint
Excel
Word
Paired with MS Office, Windows 11 Pro elevates users' computing experience with its intuitive OS interface.
—Stackcommerce Team, PCMAG, 15 Apr. 2024
The kid turned out to be a great asset to the department and would become a lifetime friend.
—Corky Carroll, Orange County Register, 12 Apr. 2024
Well, twice in a lifetime for her — the total solar eclipse on Monday.
—David Clarey, Journal Sentinel, 4 Apr. 2024
Adjective
Getting an Emmy award is a lifetime dream for many.
—Stephan Rabimov, Forbes, 24 May 2021
In addition to keynote speeches, panel discussions, workshops and networking, the 2019 Music Biz conference will again take time to recognize both recent and lifetime achievements.
—Gary Graff, Billboard, 29 Apr. 2019
They are viewed as the most restrictive among the 15 states with consecutive or lifetime legislative term limits.
—David Eggert, Detroit Free Press, 20 Nov. 2019
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'lifetime.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near lifetime
Cite this Entry
“Lifetime.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lifetime. Accessed 23 Apr. 2024.
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