Life-or-death

adj

adj ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective

1
Of critical importance to the survival of a living organism. not-comparable
"Good camoflouge is life or death for many animals in the wild."
2
Having death as a possible or even likely outcome; perilous. not-comparable
"Ascending Mount Everest can be life or death for an inexperienced climber."
3
Of critical importance to the success of a particular endeavor. idiomatic, not-comparable
"Obtaining financing was a life-or-death matter for the research."

Adjective

1
vitally important wordnet

Synonyms

basic bedrock big central crucial earnest

Antonyms

immaterial nothingburger petty simple

Example

"That fight seemed like a life-or-death struggle."

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.