longevity

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a long life, or the length of time that a person or organism lives

   Researchers are studying whether the islanders' diet contributes to their longevity.

2. 2
   noun

   the ability to remain useful, successful, or in existence for a long time

   Careful maintenance greatly increased the longevity of the machinery.

A seventeenth-century learned borrowing from Latin longaevitas ('long life'), from longaevus ('long-lived'), combining longus ('long') with aevum ('age, lifetime').

Topics