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bucket list

bucket list

17 3.8
A list of experiences a person wants to have before they die
  • noun
  • /ˈbʌkɪt lɪst/
translation icon : lista de cosas que hacer antes de morir
  • It's one of those unique places that should be on every skier's bucket list.
  • bucket list item
  • bucket list trip
  • bucket list destination

But I also wrote a bucket list for myself.

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Examples

  • He decided to sky dive this summer because it was on his bucket list for years.

  • One of the things on my bucket list has been a trip to the Canadian Rockies.

    Blog text (14)
  • But I also wrote a bucket list for myself.

  • I think most people die with a bucket list full of ideas.

  • Somebody asked me earlier about my bucket list and how that helps me.

  • Well, I can cross that off the bucket list.

  • I guess I should make a bucket list about now.

    Blog text (5)
  • Yeah, you can knock that off your bucket list.

  • I would love to be a runner; it's on my bucket list!

    Blog text (8)
  • We want to know what's on your bucket list (and all the details that go with it!).

    Blog text (20)

Synonyms

wish list
vsbucket list
27 1.9

A list of things or experiences someone wants

is about lifetime goals and experiences people try to accomplish before death
wishlist
vsbucket list
5 2.8

A list of things someone wants to have or do

focuses on lifetime experiences people aim to complete, often before they die

How Ambitious

dream
1.0
bucket list
17 3.8
aim
205 1.0
wish list
27 1.9
to-do
  • Jargon
63 3.6

Surface Forms

bucket list singular
bucket lists plural

Morphology

bucket + list

The sense 'things to do before one dies' is not compositionally derivable from 'bucket' (a container) + 'list'; the noun 'bucket' here alludes to the idiom 'kick the bucket' (to die), so the phrase is idiomatic. A B1 learner who knows the literal constituents would be unlikely to infer this life-before-death meaning without prior exposure, making it opaque.

Etymology

Bucket list comes from the phrase kick the bucket. One popular story says kick the bucket meant 'to die', so a bucket list is a list of things you want to do before that happens.