line of duty
32
3.4
- noun
- Formal
:
cumplimiento del deber
- Carl died in the line of duty. October '69.
There were more people lost to suicide than were killed in the line of duty.
- There were more people lost to suicide than were killed in the line of duty.
Examples
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I lost a son in the line of duty a few months back.
Fiction book (2000) -
He was shot in the line of duty.
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Killed a man in the line of duty.
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...he died in the line of duty - when I was a child... -
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The foundation was created in memory of a friend who had died in the line of duty as a law enforcement officer.
Academic text (2015) -
Aren't the names of the soldiers killed in the line of duty released to the public?
Blog text (7) -
Since 1948, 242 Druze have been killed in the line of duty.
Academic text (1993) -
At least ten are dead, including veteran detectives Ray Kincaid and Ellen Ridgway, who tragically lost their lives in the line of duty.
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The DA announced its star witness in the case today, hero cop Avery Cross, who, less than a year ago, was shot in the line of duty while trying to save two Schenectady residents from the alleged Moto Bandit.
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More than 100 U.S. marshals were killed in the line of duty during that time.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
Something you must do because of law, your job, or what is right
2
7.2
The area of work a person or group is allowed to do
Antonyms
How Important
- Informal
1
4.9
- Formal
- Formal
32
3.4
3
3.5
263
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
The sense is partly compositional: 'duty' clearly means responsibility and 'line' here has a figurative sense of 'area' or 'scope' (as in 'line of work'), so a learner who knows both words can often infer 'line of duty' as the area in which one's duties are performed. However, the use of 'line' in this abstract sense is somewhat metaphorical and variable, so the exact phraseology (e.g. 'in the line of duty') may not be fully predictable to a B1 learner without prior exposure.
Etymology
Line of duty may come from soldiers standing in a battle line: if you were in that line, you were doing your duty where the fighting and danger were. So today it means 'while doing your job' or 'as part of your official role', often in a risky or important situation.