noun
deadline
DEHD-lyn
noun
1
The latest date or time by which something must be finished.
"The deadline for submitting tax returns is the end of January."
"She stayed up all night to meet the deadline."
verb
1
To take a vehicle or aircraft out of service because it is not fit to operate.
"The plane was deadlined after the inspection found a fuel leak."
How to Use Deadline
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishThe cutoff date or time for getting something done.
Common pairings
meet a deadline
miss a deadline
tight deadline
deadline for submissions
Word Forms
deadlined past tense, deadlines plural, deadlines singular
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The _____ for submitting tax returns is the end of January.
Etymology
Originally described a fixed boundary line — famously the line in American Civil War prison camps that guards would shoot prisoners for crossing. By the early 1900s the word had shifted to mean a time limit, first in publishing.