Word.ws English Dictionary

living end

living end noun: the most extreme form of something or the final and most impactful development in a series of events — whether favorable or unfavorable.

Noun

living end

  1. (idiomatic, preceded by the) The most extreme form of something or the final and most impactful development in a series of events — whether favorable or unfavorable
    • This is the guy who was supposed to be the living end when he came into the NBA in 1959. Yet the Warriors have never been better than second with him.1963 February 26, Murray Olderman, “Wilt Hurts Warriors Despite High Average”, in Sarasota Journal, retrieved 01 Nov 2013, page 15
    • “We don't pretend that this bill is going to be the living end,” Senate President Phil Lewis said. “. . . But hopefully this is landmark legislation.”1979 April 27, David Powell, “Compromise Workmen's Comp Measure Sent to Governor”, in Lakeland Ledger, retrieved 01 Nov 2013, page 3C

Examples of living end in a sentence

  • Hitchcock uses a dazzling bag of tricks in Saboteur (1942)—Sunday at 2 A.M. on Channel 9—and that Statue of Liberty torch-hanger is the living end.1987 January 25, Howard Thompson, “Critics' Choices: Television”, in New York Times, retrieved 01 Nov 2013:
  • I know that sounds cynical, but this latest scandal with cyclist Floyd Landis is the living end.2006 August 8, Lowell Cohn, “Commentary: Juice up all the athletes”, in Spartanburg Herald-Journal, retrieved 01 Nov 2013, page D2:

Synonyms of living end

Questions about living end

What does living end mean?
Living end means the most extreme form of something or the final and most impactful development in a series of events — whether favorable or unfavorable.
How do you use living end in a sentence?
Hitchcock uses a dazzling bag of tricks in Saboteur (1942)—Sunday at 2 A.M. on Channel 9—and that Statue of Liberty torch-hanger is the living end.
What part of speech is living end?
Living end is a noun.

Words near living end in the dictionary

  1. living diapers
  2. living donation
  3. living donor
  4. living down
  5. living down to
  6. living end
  7. living fence
  8. living fences
  9. living floor
  10. living floors
  11. living for

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: living end (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-living end.ogg.

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