deadline

USDED-lyn/ˈdɛdˌlaɪn/

Pluraldeadlines

Verbdeadlines, deadlining, deadlined

5 meanings of deadline

Practice

1
nouncountable
A date or time by which you must finish something.
Like the last bell at school that tells you time is up.
We have to turn in the project before the deadline on Friday.
The teacher set a deadline for the homework next week.
Similarcutoff, limit
Note
2
verbtransitive
To take a vehicle or machine out of service so it cannot be used.
Like putting an 'out of order' sign on a machine so no one uses it.
The crew chief can deadline a truck that fails its safety check.
They deadlined the helicopter after finding a crack in the rotor.
Similarground, sideline
Note
3
nounarchaic
A line around a prison that prisoners were shot for crossing.
Like a 'do not cross' line, but stepping over it meant being shot.
Guards shot any prisoner who stepped past the deadline.
The deadline ran a few feet inside the camp fence.
Note

Less common meanings

4
nounarchaic
A guide mark drawn on a printing plate to show where the print should sit.
Like a faint line you draw on paper to keep your writing straight.
The printer drew a deadline on the plate before setting the type.
Each deadline showed where the edge of the page would fall.
Note
5
nounarchaic
A mark or line that stays fixed and never moves.
Like a mark on a wall that stays exactly where you drew it.
The surveyor treated the old wall as a deadline that never shifted.
They painted a deadline on the ground that stayed in place all year.
Note

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of deadline apart? Answer 4 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origin

This word first meant a line that does not move, like one used in fishing. Later in America it meant a boundary in a prison that prisoners could not cross. Over time it came to mean a time limit, especially in publishing.