lifetimelife‧time /ˈlaɪftaɪm/ ●●○ noun [countable usually singular] 
During her lifetime she had witnessed two world wars. It’s the sort of opportunity you see only once in a lifetime.2the chance/experience etc of a lifetime the best opportunity, experience etc that you will ever have: It was the holiday of a lifetime.3not in this lifetime spoken not at all SYN never: ‘Would you go out with him after he dropped you?’ ‘Not in this lifetime.’
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- A good tool should last a lifetime.
- During Dickinson's lifetime, only a few of her works were actually published.
- He suffered a lot of pain in his short lifetime.
- In our lifetime, ordinary people will travel to the moon.
- The National Medal of Arts award is meant to honor a lifetime of achievement.
- All of Callinicos' philosophical sophistication and matchless political experience evaporate in the face of the art of his own lifetime.
- Create something that you love in your lifetime.
- Few women have been so worshipped and detested in their lifetime and by posterity.
- Good looks can last your lifetime!
- Grief following any death can last a lifetime.
- The government had argued that the original military recruiters didn't have the authority to offer lifetime health care.
- Would it continue to fascinate for a lifetime?
Longman Language Activatorwhen you have the chance to do something
a situation in which it is possible for you to do something enjoyable, useful, or exciting, or something that you want to do: chance to do something: · I never got the chance to thank him for all his help.· It's a beautiful building - you should go and see it if you have a chance.give somebody a/the chance to do something: · I wish he'd just give me the chance to explain.take the chance to do something (=use a chance when you have it): · You should take the chance to travel while you are still young.chance for somebody to do something: · "Back to School Night" will be a chance for parents to meet their child's teacher.somebody's last chance (=when you will not have another chance): · It was her last chance to see him before she left town.
a chance to do something, especially something that is important or useful to you, or something that you want to do very much: · It was too good an opportunity to pass up.opportunity to do something: · All he needs is an opportunity to show his ability.opportunity of doing something: · After they had refused him the opportunity of improving his position, he resigned.opportunity for somebody to do something: · We see this as an exciting opportunity for our companies to work together.have an/the opportunity (to do something): · She was delighted to have an opportunity to talk with someone who shared her interest in classical music.equal opportunities (=the same opportunities as other people): · All over the world women are demanding equal opportunities.
informal a sudden or unexpected chance to do something, especially to be successful in your job: · Gary wants to work in television. He's just waiting for a break.lucky break: · Seeing that advertisement in the paper was a lucky break for me.big break: · Nimoy's big break in television came in the mid-'60s, when he won the role of Spock on "Star Trek".
· I got a grant from my university to study in the USA for a year. It's a golden opportunity!a golden opportunity (for somebody) to do something · The management course is being paid for by the company and it's a golden opportunity to improve your skills.
the chance to do something very exciting or important that you might never be able to do again: · This job is the chance of a lifetime. You'd be a fool not to take it.· If you don't hurry up and make a decision, you could miss the chance of a lifetime.
a chance to do things you want to do, in the way that you want to do them. Scope is more formal than room: · He refused the post because he felt it didn't offer him much scope.room/scope for: · There will always be room for debate and disagreement in this class.· I have two jobs, which doesn't leave much room for socializing.· Despite our recent success, there is still scope for improvement.room/scope to do something: · We've left the course deliberately vague, so there's room to concentrate on your particular areas of interest.· Better paid labour means greater scope to increase the company's profits.
the chance of being successful at something in the future, especially your job: · He had no job, no family, no home, no prospects.· Employers are now offering more jobs with quality training and excellent career prospects.prospects for: · The prospects for an alliance between the two nations do not look good.
the chance to do something: possibility for: · The possibilities for improvement are endless.· We need to investigate all possibilities for helping these children.
to give someone an opportunity to do something, for example the opportunity to do a particular job: · My experience in the Peace Corps really opened doors for me when I started looking for a job.· Alice Coachman's Olympic success opened the door for generations of African-American track athletes.
the time when someone is alive the time when someone is alive: the happiest/saddest/worst etc day of your life: · The day our daughter was born was the happiest day of my life.the rest of somebody's life: · Sutcliffe was sent to jail for the rest of his life.spend your life: · Dad spent his life building up this business.· How would you like to spend your life? What kind of work would you like to do?for life (=for the rest of your life): · The accident left him crippled for life.somebody's early life (=when someone was young): · He knew very little about his mother's early life in Africa.somebody's adult life: · The first half of my adult life was spent in jail.in later life (=when you are old): · Lack of calcium can lead to bone disease in later life.
the time when someone is alive - use this when you are talking about how long someone lived and what happened in their life: in/during somebody's lifetime: · He suffered a lot of pain in his short lifetime.· During Dickinson's lifetime, only a few of her works were actually published.lifetime of: · The National Medal of Arts award is meant to honor a lifetime of achievement.last a lifetime (=last as long as someone lives): · A good tool should last a lifetime.once-in-a-lifetime chance/opportunity (=a chance or opportunity that will only happen once in a person's lifetime): · The visit to Tibet was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
someone's life, especially a particular period of their life: somebody's student days/school days: · I asked Debbie about her student days and she just laughed. "I dropped out of school the day I turned 16," she said.somebody's younger days: · In her younger days, she was quite a fancy dresser.somebody's early days (=the time when someone has just started something, especially a job): · The play is based on the early days of cabaret singer Rosie Kincaid.the rest of your days (=the rest of your life): · Evelyn spent the rest of her days quietly in the country until her death in 1963.end your days (=spend the last part of your life doing something): · She ended her days in poverty.somebody's days as/with something (=a period of time in someone's life when they were doing a particular job or activity): · Michael knew Annette during her days as an off-Broadway actress.· I first became a fan of guitarist Cory Weldon during his days with the Leeds band, Sinister Minister.
the length of time that a person or animal usually lives: normal/natural/average lifespan: · The natural lifespan of a pig is 10-12 years.short/long lifespan: · Saltwater fish have a shorter lifespan in the aquarium.somebody's lifespan: · Authorities estimate that smoking trims between 12 and 15 years off a person's lifespan.
the length of time that a person or animal is expected to live: · Women have a longer life expectancy than men.low/high life expectancy (=a short or long life): · Life expectancy was much lower then than it is now.average life expectancy: · At the beginning of the century, the average life expectancy for Americans was less than 50 years.have a life expectancy of 64/78 etc years (=be expected to live until you are 64/78 etc): · British males now have a life expectancy of around 77 years.
all the different stages in development that an animal or plant has in the time that it is alive: · Despite decades of study, the life cycle of the tiny shellfish, krill, is still something of a mystery.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRY It’s the sort of opportunity you see only once in a lifetime.COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
It’s the sort of opportunity you see only once in a lifetime.· He faces a lifetime ban from athletics.
(=one that you are very unlikely to have again)· If you don’t decide soon, you’ll have missed the chance of a lifetime.
(=one that lasts as long as the object your have bought)· The binoculars are covered against manufacturing faults by a lifetime guarantee.
(=stop doing the things you have done for many years)· It is hard to change the habits of a lifetime, but you must eat more healthily or you will have a heart attack.
(=a very good or expensive holiday that you will only take once)· We took the family on a holiday of a lifetime to Orlando, Florida.
(=a very good opportunity that you will only get once)· For many athletes, the Olympics are a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
(=a very good opportunity that you will only get once)· The winner of the contest got the opportunity of a lifetime – the chance to work with a top fashion designer.
(=from when a government is elected until it calls an election)· We shall not make changes in this area, at least in the lifetime of this Parliament.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADJECTIVE· Shorter working hours and a shorter working lifetime have always been central to the Labour movement's demands.· The near-Earth asteroids and comets have very short lifetimes.· These result in short lifetimes for the upper states, and hence a loss of definition of the energy levels.· Because of these orbital properties, some of these bodies have very short expected orbital lifetimes before colliding with Earth.· The habits of a short lifetime die hard.· If these bodies have such short lifetimes, why do we see so many?· The broadening of the higher bands reflects progressively shorter lifetimes for the final highly-excited vibrational states.· Specifically, under rapidly changing market conditions, acquired information is time-critical and tends to have a shorter lifetime.
NOUN· Viktor Petrenko, a favorite, took the gold as a lifetime achievement award.· In all, Kramer's films won 15 Oscars in various categories and one for lifetime achievement.
· Read in studio Weightlifter Andrew Saxton is tonight hopeful that he won't now face a lifetime ban from his sport.· He said the arguments for Proposition 140 do not say that a lifetime ban is not imposed.· If you refuse, you will be treated as though you had failed the test, and you will face a lifetime ban.· A federal court has upheld legislative term limits in Maine that do not have a lifetime ban.· This can reduce weight but it also constitutes drug-taking, for which you may face a lifetime ban.· The ruling yesterday is expected to have an impact on six other states that have legislative term limits with lifetime bans.· Whether Proposition 140 imposes a lifetime ban was a major issue discussed by the state Supreme Court in 1991.· Some backers of the initiative feared that a lifetime ban would make the measure easier to overturn later.
· This alternative version is referred to below as a lifetime consumption base.
· One comprehensive analysis of lifetime earnings costs due to childrearing is a study by Heather Joshi.· Given students' aspirations and the data on lifetime earnings, the route to four-year institutions must remain open.
· Employees are sometimes shareholders through stock-ownership schemes, but are mainly taken care of through labour laws and guarantees of lifetime employment.· But workers here are accustomed to lifetime employment and see the provisions as a major threat to their job security.· If lifetime employment is so limited, to what extent have labour unions fought to widen its coverage?· Already the Pioneer Electronics Corporation has disregarded its lifetime employment policy by demanding that 35 mid-level managers accept early retirement.· Far better, with the demise of lifetime employment, to switch to a notion of lifetime employability.
· For example, the marginal propensity to make bequests out of lifetime income may rise with the level of income.· I have friends reaping lifetime income from maintaining a green corridor along an urban stream.· This departs from the measure based on lifetime incomes, on account of systematic life-cycle factors and of transitory variation in incomes.· In these circumstances it is not possible to summarize a person's opportunity set by the measure of expected lifetime income.· The implications for lifetime income may however be quite different, and a pension scheme may involve no redistribution.· In this framework, inequality in lifetime income arises basically from differences in endowments.· This has led to proposals that the redistributive impact be assessed in terms of lifetime income.
· All too often these individuals will run out of money in the face of managed care denials and low lifetime limits.· Time limits Federal law Families have a lifetime limit of five years on aid.
· Learning must become a lifetime opportunity, with new chances to update skills at work.· The Olympics is a once in a lifetime opportunity.
VERB· Good looks can last your lifetime!· The second benefit is long lasting; in fact, it lasts a lifetime.· We've had enough of fair-haired people here to last us a lifetime!· Grief following any death can last a lifetime.· Eating smoked salmon while talking to Johnny Prescott had seemed to last a lifetime.· Indeed, the overwhelming fascination of men with female youth argues that pair bonds have lasted lifetimes.· In a single sentence, Pope John provided the Council with a method and commentators with material that could last a lifetime.· Properly cared for, however, they can last a lifetime, even become heirlooms.
· Two months ago on an innocent April afternoon, yet already she had lived through a lifetime of sorrow.· It was a sight to live for a lifetime in memory!
· Wright produced a small number of remarkable poems, of which only two were published in her lifetime.· It survives in four separated fragments, was not published in his lifetime and probably remained incomplete.· Of its eight books only five were published in Hooker's lifetime.
· Their eyes had met for only the briefest moment, but it had seemed like a lifetime.· To many twenty-year-olds, the age of thirty-five seems like a lifetime away.· Eating smoked salmon while talking to Johnny Prescott had seemed to last a lifetime.· It seemed a lifetime since she'd gone to bed the night before.· At times it still feels like yesterday, otherwise it seems a lifetime away.
· I have tremendous admiration for anyone who has spent a lifetime in the mining industry, especially at the coalface.· They have spent a lifetime playing the birth lottery.· One could spend a lifetime in Granada and still not see everything.· And here she was now, in danger of being fired because she had spent a lifetime trying to be invisible.· She is trying out exciting sports she has spent a lifetime wanting to try.· One could spend a lifetime learning a small range of mountains, and once upon a time people did.· We have, in our company, many highly experienced people who have spent a lifetime in our industry.· I believe I could spend a lifetime getting Boat Quay and the people and the river into my camera.
PHRASES FROM THE ENTRY► not in this lifetime
1the period of time during which someone is alive or something existsduring/in somebody’s lifetime- Jim assured him that hearing me sing was the experience of a lifetime, but Dad wasn't having that.
- There is also the chance of a lifetime for the talented teams who win through to the final.
- This was the chance of a lifetime.
- We are offering the experience of a lifetime, and it seems to appeal to people from all over the world.
During her lifetime she had witnessed two world wars. It’s the sort of opportunity you see only once in a lifetime.2the chance/experience etc of a lifetime the best opportunity, experience etc that you will ever have: It was the holiday of a lifetime.3not in this lifetime spoken not at all SYN never: ‘Would you go out with him after he dropped you?’ ‘Not in this lifetime.’