Deadline: Meaning, Examples, and Usage Guide

Meaning 1：final due date (deadline)

deadline 🔊

/ˈded.laɪn/

The final time or date by which something must be completed or submitted.

Deadline circled on calendar with coffee and papers

final due date 🔊

➕

/ˈfaɪn.əl duː deɪt/

The last possible time or date by which a task, assignment, or submission must be completed; a strict time limit.

📁 Category：Time & Dates 🔖 Level：Intermediate

📘 Details & Usage

📖 Root Explanation

Combines 'dead' (no longer alive) and 'line' (a boundary). The term literally means a line that, if crossed, results in death.

💡 Mnemonic

A dead line: cross it and your project is dead. Visualize a literal line in the sand with a skull symbol.

📖 Example

I need to finish my report by Friday because that's the deadline. 🔊 I need to finish my report by Friday because that's the deadline.

🔗 Collocations

meet a deadline – Complete a task on or before the required time.

miss a deadline – Fail to complete a task by the required time.

deadline extension – A later date granted to allow more time.

🔄 Synonyms

due date (n.) – The date by which something must be done or paid.

time limit (n.) – A fixed period during which something must be finished.

cutoff date (n.) – The last date on which something is allowed or accepted.

🚫 Antonyms

open-ended (adj.) – Having no predetermined limit or deadline.

📖 Cultural Story

Originated during the American Civil War in the 1860s. Prisoners of war were warned that crossing a drawn line would be met with lethal force. By the 1920s, it evolved into a metaphor for a fixed time limit in publishing and journalism.