life insurance

noun

: insurance providing for payment of a stipulated sum to a designated beneficiary upon death of the insured

Examples of life insurance in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Key insights for retirees These are essential items for some seniors, second only to food and shelter, said Yehuda Tropper, CEO of Beca Life Settlements, a company that assists in selling life insurance policies for cash. —Madeline Mitchell, USA Today, 19 Apr. 2025 Prosecutors are accusing Vallow Daybell of conspiring with her late brother, Alex Cox, to murder her late husband, Charles Vallow, to benefit from a $1 million life insurance policy and marry another man, Chad Daybell, in 2019. —Stepheny Price, FOXNews.com, 13 Apr. 2025 The lawyer who complained cited forgery and insurance fraud related to life insurance policies sold by Daniel Carpenter, the department said. —Ethan Baron, Mercury News, 11 Apr. 2025 Sweden again offers a glimpse of what might be: A landmark court case recently granted life insurance benefits to a platonic partner, proving that legal protections don’t have to hinge on romance. —Peter McGraw, The Conversation, 10 Apr. 2025 See All Example Sentences for life insurance

Word History

First Known Use

1781, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of life insurance was in 1781

Rhymes for life insurance

See All Rhymes for life insurance

Browse Nearby Words

life income policy
life insurance
life jacket
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Life insurance.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/life%20insurance. Accessed 22 Apr. 2025.

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Kids Definition

life insurance

noun
: insurance providing for a specified sum to be paid when the insured person dies

Legal Definition

life insurance

noun
: insurance providing for the payment of money to a designated beneficiary upon the death of the insured see also endowment insurance
— ordinary life insurance
: whole life insurance in this entry
— straight life insurance
: whole life insurance in this entry
— term life insurance
: life insurance that provides coverage for a set term and does not accumulate cash surrender value
— universal life insurance
: life insurance characterized by flexible premiums, benefits, and payment schedules, by the indexing of cash value to money market interest rates, and by the periodic reporting of current value and company costs charged to the account
— universal variable life insurance
: variable universal life insurance in this entry
— variable life insurance
: life insurance in which all or part of the cash value of the policy is located in a tax-deferred investment portfolio with risk assumed by the insured for investment losses compare variable annuity at annuity
— variable universal life insurance
: universal life insurance that includes the investment component of variable life insurance

called also universal variable life insurance

— whole life insurance
: life insurance that provides coverage over the life of the insured and that can be sold for surrender value or used as the basis of low-interest loans

called also ordinary life insurance, straight life insurance

More from Merriam-Webster on life insurance

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about life insurance

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