do or die
do or die verb: to act with sufficient urgency to result in either immediate success or immediate failure.
Verb
do or die (third-person singular simple present does or dies, present participle doing or dying, simple past did or died, past participle done or died)
- To act with sufficient urgency to result in either immediate success or immediate failure.
- Emanuel: Bless us, dear Fortune! / Armusia: Let us be worthy of it in our courage, and Fortune must befriend us. Come, all sever; but keep still within sight: when the flame rises let's meet, and either do or die.1621 (first literary attestation), John Fletcher, The Island Princess act 2.scene 2
- Lay the proud Usurpers low! / Tyrants fall in every foe! / Liberty's in every blow! / Let us do or die!1793, Robert Burns, Robert Bruce's March To Bannockburn 6th stanza.4th line
Adjective
do or die (not comparable)
- Requiring a determined or desperate effort to avoid the consequences of failure.
- Clinton and Dole brought different needs to the debate. For Dole it was do or die. He had to hit Clinton hard but without seeming harsh, a conundrum for him all year.1996 October 14, “Clinton v. Dole: Let the Debates Begin”, in Time
do or die meaning in Kannada
do or die in Kannada
- ಮಾಡು ಇಲ್ಲವೇ ಮಡಿ, ಇಕ್ಕಟ್ಟಿನ ಪರಿಸ್ಥಿತಿ
Forms of do or die
| third-person singular present | does or dies |
|---|---|
| present participle | doing or dying |
| past | did or died |
| past participle | done or died |
| alternative form | do-or-die |
| alternative form | either do or die |
Origin of do or die
An ultimatory verbal phrase composed of the words: do, or, and die.
An adjectival phrase composed of the words: do, or, and die.
Questions about do or die
- What does do or die mean?
- Do or die means to act with sufficient urgency to result in either immediate success or immediate failure.
- What is do or die in Kannada?
- Do or die in Kannada is ಮಾಡು ಇಲ್ಲವೇ ಮಡಿ, ಇಕ್ಕಟ್ಟಿನ ಪರಿಸ್ಥಿತಿ. See Do or die meaning in Kannada.
- What part of speech is do or die?
- Do or die can be a verb or an adjective.
- What is the past tense of do or die?
- The past tense of do or die is did or died.
Words near do or die in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: do or die (page history and authors); do or die (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-do-or-die.ogg.
Cite this entry: “do or die.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/do_or_die. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.