life-or-death
Americanadjective
Etymology
Origin of life-or-death
First recorded in 1680–90
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Noting the life-or-death stakes of transportation safety regulations, Horton said the agency’s leaders “want to go fast and break things, but going fast and breaking things means people are going to get hurt.”
From Salon
This being “Primal,” they’re set upon by a group of diminutive flesh-eaters with jagged teeth, igniting a life-or-death skirmish that, miraculously, steals the viewer’s breath.
From Salon
Dr Gillespie said issues with availability can mean they are often called into highly emotional situations at short notice, sometimes moving between a christening and a life-or-death situation in hospital.
From BBC
But there’s a difference—and it’s a life-or-death difference now—between protest and incitement.
“We are currently facing an urgent, life-or-death crisis.”
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
