life and death
95
4.6
- noun
:
cuestión de vida o muerte
- This is life and death.
- a matter of life and death
- a life-and-death decision
- a life-and-death struggle
They're cautious because what they do is life and death.
- They're cautious because what they do is life and death.
- They still operate as though it's life and death.
- So a lot of movies are very clear external, you know, life and death stakes, right?
- So ultra high stakes, literal life and death.
- All the trauma, all the life and death survival.
- There's there's a chapter on life and death risk and reward.
- They were the masters of life and death for so many polls.
- It's like life and death is a really serious thing.
- Well, let's talk a little bit about life and death.
- You can't recreate the life and death importance, right?
- But it is it is, it is the difference between life and death and water.
Examples
-
This is literally a matter of life and death.
-
Medical doctors need to realize the trust placed in them in life and death situations.
Academic text (2000) -
It's a matter of life and death.
-
Look, is this a matter of life and death?
-
I told her it was a matter of life and death.
-
It's a matter of life and death!
-
One might also note that it was a matter of life and death for me.
Fiction book (1999) -
Far from being a pose, for him it was a matter of life and death.
Academic text (1999) -
Recognising those signs usually means the difference between life and death.
-
When the ambulance arrived, the situation was clearly one of life and death.
Synonyms
141
6.9
Very serious, frightening, and needing action quickly
66
4.3
Dangerous enough to cause death
28
6.7
A very serious situation that may cause death if you do not act
16
6.1
Involving a very serious risk to life or survival
2
7.2
Willing to do anything to succeed when the situation is urgent
Antonyms
How Serious
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase literally juxtaposes 'life' and 'death' to signal that both outcomes are at stake, so a learner who knows the meanings of 'life', 'and', and 'death' can infer it refers to a situation involving survival or serious risk. This compositional pattern is cross-linguistically common and follows straightforward semantics rather than an idiosyncratic idiom, making it transparent to a B1 learner.
Etymology
Life and death puts life and death next to each other to show the two most extreme outcomes: living or dying. Think of a battlefield or a very sick person where a choice can mean living or dying, so today the phrase means 'very serious' or 'high risk'.