deadline

Meaning

Noun

1. A time limit in the form of a date on or before which something must be completed.
2. (archaic) A guideline marked on a plate for a printing press.
3. (archaic) A line that does not move.
4. (archaic) A boundary around a prison, prisoners crossing which would be shot.

Verb

To render an item non-mission-capable; to ground an aircraft, etc.

Synonyms

time limit

date

📅

closing day

term

end

🔚

closing date

due date

expiration

expiry

extension

interval

limit

period

respite

safety margin

set a date

slot

space

time

⌚

time slot

fixed date

Closed

baseline

No Entrance

closing

cutoff

cut-off

date of delivery

delay

Translations

délai

scadenza

Stichtag

date limite

Termin

📅

Frist

Deadline

prazo

échéance

termine

🔚

termijn

letzter Termin

موعد نهائي

date butoire

terme

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈdɛdˌlaɪn/

Etymology

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, early usage refers to lines that do not move, such as one used in angling. Slightly later American usage refers to a boundary in a prison which prisoners must not cross. There is only indirect evidence that the sense of "due date" may be connected with this use of the term in prison camps during the American Civil War, when it referred to a physical line or boundary beyond which prisoners were shot. In 1904, in a report from the US Department of Commerce and Labor, the term is used for "minimum work goals" (and in contrast to bonus line): for example, as a typographer the line could be 18,000 ems per day; should one not cross this line, then that could have negative consequences. In 1917, the term is attested as a printing term for a guideline on the bed of a printing press beyond which text will not print. Three years later, the term is found in print in the sense of "time limit" in the closely connected publishing industry, indicating the time after which material would not make it into a newspaper or periodical.

Sentences

The deadline was not met .