deadline

See also: dead line

English

Etymology

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, early usage refers simply 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 fact, the term is no longer found in print by the end of the 19th century, but it soon resurfaces in writing in 1917 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.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɛdˌlaɪn/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

Noun

deadline (plural deadlines)

1. A time limit in the form of a date on or before which something must be completed.

   I must make this deadline or my boss will kill me!

   • 2019 October, Rhodri Clark, “TfW seeks PRM derogation for Class 37 sets”, in Modern Railways, page 87:

     TfW's [Transport for Wales] plans to meet the PRM [Persons with Reduced Mobility] deadline and withdraw all Pacers by 1 January have been made more difficult by delays to introduction of Class 769 and 230 units.

2. (archaic) A guideline marked on a plate for a printing press.
3. (archaic) A line that does not move. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
4. (archaic) A boundary around a prison, prisoners crossing which would be shot.

Derived terms

• deadliner
• deadline fighter
• postdeadline

Translations

date on or before which something must be completed

• Albanian: afat (sq) m
• Armenian: վերջնաժամկետ (hy) (verǰnažamket)
• Bulgarian: краен срок (kraen srok)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 截止日期 (jiézhǐ rìqī (mainland China) or jiézhǐ rìqí (Taiwan)), 限期 (zh) (xiànqī (mainland China) or xiànqí (Taiwan)), 期限 (zh) (qíxiàn), 死線 (zh) (sǐxiàn)

• Czech: uzávěrka f, termín (cs) m
• Danish: deadline (da) c, afleveringsfrist c, frist (da) c
• Dutch: termijn (nl) m, deadline (nl) m
• Esperanto: limdato
• Estonian: tähtaeg
• Finnish: takaraja (fi), määräaika (fi), deadline (fi)
• French: date butoir (fr) f, date limite (fr) f, échéance (fr) f
• Georgian: ბოლო ვადა (bolo vada), ზღვრული ვადა (zɣvruli vada), უკიდურესი ვადა (uḳiduresi vada), საბოლოო ვადა (saboloo vada), დედლაინი (dedlaini) (slang)
• German: Stichtag (de) m, Frist (de) f, Termin (de) m; (university and business also) Deadline (de) f
• Greek: προθεσμία (el) f (prothesmía)
• Haitian Creole: dat limit
• Hungarian: határidő (hu)
• Indonesian: tenggat waktu, batas waktu
• Irish: spriocdháta m (date), sprioc-am m (time)
• Italian: scadenza (it) f, termine (it), limite (it)
• Japanese: 期限 (ja) (きげん, kigen), 締め切り (しめきり, shimekiri), デッドライン (deddorain)

• Khmer: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: 마감 (ko) (magam), 데드라인 (dedeurain)
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: tidsfrist m

  Nynorsk: tidsfrist m

• Polish: deadline (pl) m
• Portuguese: prazo (pt) m
• Romanian: timp limită
• Russian: кра́йний срок m (krájnij srok), после́дний срок m (poslédnij srok), (jargon) де́длайн (ru) m (dɛ́dlajn), срок (ru) m (srok)
• Scottish Gaelic: ceann-ama m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: рок m, термин m

  Roman: rok (sh) m, termin (sh) m

• Slovene: rok (sl) m
• Spanish: fecha límite f, requisito (es) m, compromiso (es) m, plazo (es) m
• Swedish: tidsfrist c, deadline (sv) c
• Tagalog: palugit
• Thai: เส้นตาย (th) (sên-dtaai)
• Ukrainian: строк (uk) m (strok), те́рмін (uk) m (términ)
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can
• Walloon: dierin djoû m

Verb

deadline (third-person singular simple present deadlines, present participle deadlining, simple past and past participle deadlined)

1. (military) To render an item non-mission-capable; to ground an aircraft, etc.

Anagrams

• denailed

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Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English deadline.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɛt.lɑi̯n/, /ˈdɛd.lɑi̯n/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: dead‧line

Noun

deadline m (plural deadlines, diminutive deadlinetje n)

1. deadline.

   Synonym: termijn

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Finnish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English deadline.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdedlɑi̯n/, [ˈde̞dlɑi̯n]

Noun

deadline

1. (colloquial) deadline

Declension

The declension of this word is problematic. Joukahainen recommends the nalle-type declension, presumably based on the (English) spelling of the nominative of the word:

Inflection of deadline (Kotus type 8/nalle, no gradation)
nominative		deadline	deadlinet
genitive		deadlinen	deadlinejen
partitive		deadlinea	deadlineja
illative		deadlineen	deadlineihin
		singular	plural
nominative		deadline	deadlinet
accusative	nom.	deadline	deadlinet
	gen.	deadlinen
genitive		deadlinen	deadlinejen deadlineinrare
partitive		deadlinea	deadlineja
inessive		deadlinessa	deadlineissa
elative		deadlinesta	deadlineista
illative		deadlineen	deadlineihin
adessive		deadlinella	deadlineilla
ablative		deadlinelta	deadlineilta
allative		deadlinelle	deadlineille
essive		deadlinena	deadlineina
translative		deadlineksi	deadlineiksi
instructive		—	deadlinein
abessive		deadlinetta	deadlineitta
comitative		—	deadlineineen

Possessive forms of deadline (type nalle)
possessor	singular	plural
1st person	deadlineni	deadlinemme
2nd person	deadlinesi	deadlinenne
3rd person	deadlinensa

On the other hand, the nalle-type declension does not fit the pronunciation, which in fact follows the risti-type declension (except in the nominative: /dedlain/), in other words, /dedlainin/, /dedlainia/, etc. in the genitive, partitive, etc. It's probably advisable to avoid using this word in writing and to use Finnish synonyms instead.

Synonyms

• kalmanviiva (colloquial)
• kuolemanlinja (colloquial)
• kuolonlinja (colloquial)
• määräaika
• takaraja

Further reading

• deadline in Kielitoimiston sanakirja

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Polish

Etymology

From English deadline.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɛ.dlajn/

Noun

deadline m inan

1. (informal) deadline (date on or before which something must be completed)

Declension

declension of deadline

	singular	plural
nominative	deadline	deadline'y
genitive	deadline'u	deadline'ów
dative	deadline'owi	deadline'om
accusative	deadline	deadline'y
instrumental	deadline'em	deadline'ami
locative	deadlinie	deadline'ach
vocative	deadlinie	deadline'y

Further reading

• deadline in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• deadline in Polish dictionaries at PWN