Word.ws English Dictionary

once-in-a-generation

once-in-a-generation adjective: very rare; likely to happen only once in a given generation.

Adjective

once-in-a-generation (not comparable)

  1. Very rare; likely to happen only once in a given generation.
    • Trump has said that undocumented immigrants share the blame for America’s once-in-a-generation home affordability crisis, but the president-elect’s deportation plans may backfire, driving up the cost of homebuying even further.2024 November 19, Samantha Delouya and Julia Vargas Jones, “Here’s how mass deportations could change the housing market”, in CNN
    • Asked if such a service could be put in place again, rather than buses, Mellors said: "I think the key thing is the first two weeks of January are pretty unique, in so far as the renewal of a bridge over the M6 at Penrith is very much a once-in-a-generation project.2025 October 1, David Stubbings, “News: S&C to carry AWC services during West Coast closure”, in RAIL, number 1045, page 17

Questions about once-in-a-generation

What does once-in-a-generation mean?
Once-in-a-generation means very rare; likely to happen only once in a given generation.
What part of speech is once-in-a-generation?
Once-in-a-generation is an adjective.

Words near once-in-a-generation in the dictionary

  1. once removed
  2. once upon a time
  3. once you go black
  4. once you go black, you never go back
  5. once you go Persian, there's no other version
  6. once-in-a-generation
  7. once-in-a-lifetime
  8. once-off
  9. once-offs
  10. once-over
  11. once-over-lightlies

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: once-in-a-generation (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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