PROLONG

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does prolong mean? 

• PROLONG (verb)
  The verb PROLONG has 2 senses:

1. lengthen in time; cause to be or last longer

2. lengthen or extend in duration or space

  Familiarity information: PROLONG used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PROLONG (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they prolong    ... he / she / it prolongs   
Past simple: prolonged   
Past participle: prolonged   
-ing form: prolonging   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Lengthen in time; cause to be or last longer

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

draw out; extend; prolong; protract

Context example:

The meeting was drawn out until midnight

Hypernyms (to "prolong" is one way to...):

lengthen (make longer)

Verb group:

carry; extend (continue or extend)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "prolong"):

extend (prolong the time allowed for payment of)

temporise; temporize (draw out a discussion or process in order to gain time)

spin; spin out (prolong or extend)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

prolongation (the act of prolonging something)

prolongation (the consequence of being lengthened in duration)

prolongation (amount or degree or range to which something extends)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Lengthen or extend in duration or space

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Synonyms:

keep up; prolong; sustain

Context example:

keep up the good work

Hypernyms (to "prolong" is one way to...):

bear on; carry on; continue; preserve; uphold (keep or maintain in unaltered condition; cause to remain or last)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "prolong"):

continue; keep; keep on; retain (allow to remain in a place or position or maintain a property or feature)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

prolongation (the act of prolonging something)

prolongation (the consequence of being lengthened in duration)

 Context examples 

Even the lips were white, and the gums seemed to have shrunken back from the teeth, as we sometimes see in a corpse after a prolonged illness.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Stuttering is characterized by pauses and repeated or prolonged sounds, syllables or words, which disrupt the normal flow of speech.

(Study in mice identifies type of brain cell involved in stuttering, National Institutes of Health)

However, prolonged inflammation can seriously damage the body.

(Gene linked to rare inflammatory disease in children, NIH)

But prolonged inflammation can seriously damage the body.

(Diet Affects Autoinflammatory Disease Via Gut Microbes, NIH)

Most cases are slow growing tumors and have a prolonged course.

(Apocrine Gland Carcinoma, NCI Thesaurus)

Conversion of p35 to p25 causes prolonged activation and mislocalization of cdk5 and the hyperphosphorylates tau, leading to the formation of paired helical filaments and promotion of apoptosis.

(Alzheimer's Disease Pathway BioCarta, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

Medicines can relieve symptoms and, sometimes, prolong survival.

(Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, NIH: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke)

But his reticence of love prolonged it.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

If the interaction between CD40 and CD40L is prolonged, the B cell can be induced to become a memory cell rather than a plasma cell.

(Antigen Dependent B Cell Activation Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

This is may be characterized by prolonged P wave duration, increased P wave amplitude, or multi-component P waves.

(Atrial Enlargement by ECG Finding, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)