How to Use life-and-death in a Sentence

life-and-death

adjective
  • That was a life-and-death matter during the Cedar fire.
    — Gary Robbins, San Diego Union-Tribune, 22 Oct. 2023
  • The life-and-death drama played out in the heart of country music.
    — Keith Sharon, USA TODAY, 2 Sep. 2024
  • What about life-and-death situations out on the streets?
    — Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 19 June 2023
  • William eventually makes his way to the church to ask Jamie for help on a life-and-death matter.
    — Lincee Ray, EW.com, 18 Jan. 2025
  • On vaccines, Democrats said Kennedy was flip-flopping on a life-and-death issue.
    — Alexandra Hutzler, ABC News, 29 Jan. 2025
  • Three days later, in a second life-and-death crisis, the pope suffered a pair of acute bronchiospasms episodes.
    — Colleen Barry, Chicago Tribune, 25 Mar. 2025
  • Between the frigid cold and circling wolves below, the trio make life-and-death decisions to survive.
    — Keith Langston, Peoplemag, 24 Nov. 2023
  • Taveras said the bill has life-and-death consequences for children and drivers involved in school bus crashes.
    — Thomas Goodwin Smith, Baltimore Sun, 14 Feb. 2024
  • These are life-and-death stakes, sure, but watching Yen zip through the kitchen dispatching goon after goon telegraphs a chaotic joy, with roots in the Great Stone Face bits of the silent era.
    — Jordan Crucchiola, Vulture, 4 Mar. 2024
  • The dialogue is mostly terse; each sentence bears the weight of life-and-death implications.
    — Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 5 Feb. 2025
  • These circumstances forced people to make life-and-death decisions: to serve the Germans or join the partisans.
    — Foreign Affairs, 25 Feb. 2025
  • What is certain, however, is that the Middle colonies and South Carolina were left with a life-and-death decision to make.
    — Time, 3 July 2023
  • Unaware of the life-and-death drama unfolding just feet from them, his parents were relaxing upstairs on the couch.
    — Michael Collins, USA TODAY, 12 June 2023
  • Then, the staff got to work picking the ones that best encapsulated the uncertainty and life-and-death feelings of that moment.
    — Erik Ortiz, NBC News, 30 Aug. 2023
  • That necessities come first makes sense: These items can make a life-and-death difference in moments of crisis.
    — Ayurella Horn-Muller, The Atlantic, 30 Dec. 2023
  • These include sustaining a crucial vow of silence plus life-and-death trials by fire and water.
    — Gary Goldstein, Los Angeles Times, 9 Mar. 2023
  • Drug discovery — that, of course, is very important, with life-and-death consequences.
    — Steven Strogatz, Quanta Magazine, 7 Nov. 2024
  • So in the ’80s, the death penalty was a place where the Supreme Court started making these orders that decided life-and-death situations for people on death row.
    — Vox Staff, Vox, 5 June 2024
  • And yet the bad boy has long been a trope of popular culture, particularly in a genre when the differences between bad and good are heightened to life-and-death stakes.
    — Eliana Dockterman, TIME, 3 July 2024
  • Energy reliability is a life-and-death issue in the heat of the summer.
    — Russ Wiles, The Arizona Republic, 9 July 2024
  • But in a war, deepfakes can be used to sow confusion with potentially life-and-death consequences.
    — Vivienne Walt, Fortune, 4 Dec. 2023
  • Quick life-and-death decisions sometimes must be made based on incomplete data, and current gen AI models are still too opaque.
    — Frank Bajak, Fortune, 23 May 2024
  • Relying on massive solar power systems for this life-and-death project could doom the entire endeavor, Zubrin tells me.
    — Kevin Holden Platt, Forbes, 11 Mar. 2025
  • The clashing of swords against one another adds suspense as beloved or infamous characters engage in life-and-death battles on screen.
    — Marina Johnson, Detroit Free Press, 3 May 2023
  • If the unthinkable became a horrifying reality, if a life-and-death teeter-totter or crushing financial pressure pushed them to the brink, the teen would shoulder the weight of the world.
    — Bryce Millercolumnist, San Diego Union-Tribune, 24 Feb. 2023
  • As time starts running out, emotions intensify, resulting in a love triangle with life-and-death stakes.
    — Matt Grobar, Deadline, 19 Nov. 2024
  • Game controllers have been used in life-and-death situations in combat, and likely will continue to be used in those scenarios for the foreseeable future.
    — Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 22 June 2023
  • Healthcare workers and anyone in any industry that deals with life-and-death situations have higher stressors in their daily jobs.
    — Hanna Kang, Orange County Register, 20 Jan. 2024
  • At least until a second group of survivors also appeared and told a very different story about what had happened aboard the Wager—one that would lead to life-and-death stakes for one group, if only it could be discerned who was telling the truth.
    — The Editors, townandcountrymag.com, 4 Apr. 2023
  • At least until a second group of survivors also appeared and told a very different story about what had happened aboard the Wager—one that would lead to life-and-death stakes for one group, if only it could be discerned who was telling the truth.
    — The Editors, Town & Country, 4 Mar. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'life-and-death.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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