Lifeline

How to spell lifeline

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce lifeline

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does lifeline mean?

1. nounSomething that provides essential support or a means of survival in a difficult situation.
2. nounA rope or line used to save or secure a person, especially at sea or at height.

Lifeline in a sentence

• The small pension was her only lifeline after she lost her job.

• The sailor clipped onto the lifeline before crossing the open deck.

• For remote villages, the weekly ferry is a genuine lifeline.

• The coastguard threw a lifeline to the swimmer caught in the current.

Where does lifeline come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a transparent English compound, joining 'life' and 'line', and both halves are very old. 'Life' descends from the Old English 'lif', meaning the state of being alive, while 'line' goes back through Old English 'line' to the Latin 'linea', literally a 'linen thread' or cord (from 'linum', meaning flax). The word began as a practical nautical and rescue term in the 1700s for a rope thrown or rigged to save a person from drowning, keeping the literal sense of a line that preserves life. From there it broadened in the 1800s and 1900s into the familiar figurative meaning of any vital connection or source of support. Because both parts are common, freestanding words, the spelling trap is simply remembering it is written as one solid word with the silent 'e' of 'life' kept in the middle.

How the word is built

• life (existence)
• line (rope, cord, connection)