| English Dictionary |
LONG
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
| IPA (US): |  |
Dictionary entry overview: What does long mean?
• LONG (adjective)
The adjective LONG has 9 senses:
1. primarily temporal sense; being or indicating a relatively great or greater than average duration or passage of time or a duration as specified
2. primarily spatial sense; of relatively great or greater than average spatial extension or extension as specified
3. of relatively great height
4. good at remembering
5. holding securities or commodities in expectation of a rise in prices
6. (of speech sounds or syllables) of relatively long duration
7. involving substantial risk
8. planning prudently for the future
9. having or being more than normal or necessary
Familiarity information: LONG used as an adjective is familiar.
• LONG (verb)
The verb LONG has 1 sense:
1. desire strongly or persistently
Familiarity information: LONG used as a verb is very rare.
• LONG (adverb)
The adverb LONG has 2 senses:
1. for an extended time or at a distant time
2. for an extended distance
Familiarity information: LONG used as an adverb is rare.
Dictionary entry details
| Declension: comparative and superlative |
Superlative: longest
Sense 1
Meaning:
Primarily temporal sense; being or indicating a relatively great or greater than average duration or passage of time or a duration as specified
Context example:
an hour long
Similar:
longish (somewhat long)
long-life ((of perishable goods) treated to stay fresh longer than usual)
longitudinal (over an extended time)
long-range (involving an extended span of time)
long-run; long-term; semipermanent (relating to or extending over a relatively long time)
long-standing; longstanding (having existed for a long time)
monthlong (last through a month)
all-night; nightlong; overnight (lasting, open, or operating through the whole night)
perennial (lasting an indefinitely long time; suggesting self-renewal)
time-consuming (of a task that takes time and patience)
seven-day; weeklong (lasting through a week)
yearlong (lasting through a year)
eight-day (lasting for eight days)
long-acting (active over a long period of time)
agelong (lasting through all time)
bimestrial (two months long; lasting two months)
chronic; continuing (of long duration)
daylong (lasting through an entire day)
drawn-out; extended; lengthy; prolonged; protracted (relatively long in duration; tediously protracted)
durable; lasting; long-lasting; long-lived (existing for a long time)
endless; eternal; interminable (tiresomely long; seemingly without end)
hourlong (lasting for an hour)
lifelong; womb-to-tomb (continuing through life)
long-dated (of a gilt-edged security; having more than 15 years to run before redemption)
Attribute:
duration; length (continuance in time)
Antonym:
short (primarily temporal sense; indicating or being or seeming to be limited in duration)
Derivation:
longness (duration as an extension)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Primarily spatial sense; of relatively great or greater than average spatial extension or extension as specified
Context example:
ten miles long
Similar:
polysyllabic; sesquipedalian ((of words) long and ponderous; having many syllables)
stretch (having an elongated seating area)
oblong (deviating from a square or circle or sphere by being elongated in one direction)
long-wool; long-wooled ((of sheep) having relatively long wool)
long-staple (having relatively long fibers)
long-snouted (having a snout that is longer than average)
long-range (suitable for or reaching long distances)
lank (long and thin and often limp)
far (being of a considerable distance or length)
extendable; extendible (capable of being lengthened)
elongated; extended; lengthened; prolonged (drawn out or made longer spatially)
long-handled; pole-handled (having a long handle)
elongate; elongated (having notably more length than width; being long and slender)
Attribute:
length (the linear extent in space from one end to the other; the longest dimension of something that is fixed in place)
Antonym:
short ((primarily spatial sense) having little length or lacking in length)
Derivation:
longness (the property of being of long spatial extent)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Of relatively great height
Context example:
looked out the long French windows
Similar:
tall (great in vertical dimension; high in stature)
Derivation:
longness (the property of being of long spatial extent)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Good at remembering
Synonyms:
long; recollective; retentive; tenacious
Context example:
tenacious memory
Also:
aware; mindful (bearing in mind; attentive to)
Sense 5
Meaning:
Holding securities or commodities in expectation of a rise in prices
Context example:
a long position in gold
Domain category:
finance (the branch of economics that studies the management of money and other assets)
Antonym:
short (not holding securities or commodities that one sells in expectation of a fall in prices)
Sense 6
Meaning:
(of speech sounds or syllables) of relatively long duration
Context example:
the English vowel sounds in 'bate', 'beat', 'bite', 'boat', 'boot' are long
Domain category:
phonetics (the branch of acoustics concerned with speech processes including its production and perception and acoustic analysis)
Antonym:
short (of speech sounds or syllables of relatively short duration)
Sense 7
Meaning:
Involving substantial risk
Context example:
long odds
Similar:
unsound (not sound financially)
Sense 8
Meaning:
Planning prudently for the future
Synonyms:
farseeing; farsighted; foresighted; foresightful; long; longsighted; prospicient
Context example:
took a long view of the geopolitical issues
Similar:
provident (providing carefully for the future)
Sense 9
Meaning:
Having or being more than normal or necessary
Context example:
in long supply
Similar:
abundant (present in great quantity)
| Conjugation: |
... he / she / it longs Past simple: longed
Past participle: longed
-ing form: longing
Sense 1
Meaning:
Desire strongly or persistently
Classified under:
Verbs of feeling
Synonyms:
Hypernyms (to "long" is one way to...):
desire; want (feel or have a desire for; want strongly)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "long"):
ache; languish; pine; yearn; yen (have a desire for something or someone who is not present)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s PP
Sentence example:
They long to move
Derivation:
longer (a person with a strong desire for something)
longing (prolonged unfulfilled desire or need)
Sense 1
Meaning:
For an extended time or at a distant time
Context example:
it is long after your bedtime
Sense 2
Meaning:
For an extended distance
Context examples
"Jo does use such slang words!" observed Amy, with a reproving look at the long figure stretched on the rug.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
Without a word Holmes hurried to a carriage, and during the long seven miles’ drive he never opened his mouth.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
There was always scope for fear so long as anything I loved remained behind.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
“You have saved us a long walk, which would have brought us back on our own traces. Let us follow the return track.”
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
He hesitated, stammered, repeated himself, got snarled in a long sentence, and finally turned furiously upon the cause of his troubles.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
It was not very long after this that there occurred the first of the mysterious events that rid us at last of the captain, though not, as you will see, of his affairs.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
On the sled, securely lashed, was a long and narrow oblong box.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
Although somatic cell nuclear transfer was used successfully in amphibians as early as 1952, getting it to work in mammals took much longer.
(Healthy cloned monkeys born in Shanghai, Wikinews)
“I am ashamed of my long tongue. Let us make a bargain never to refer to this again.”
(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
Hers was the kiss of a tired woman who had been tired so long that she had forgotten how to kiss.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
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