"to save one's life" meaning in English

See to save one's life in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Phrase

Head templates: {{head|en|phrase}} to save one's life
  1. (informal) at all (Used with "can't", "couldn't" etc. to emphasize a lack of skill.) Tags: informal Synonyms: for the life of one, even if one's life depended on it, for toffee
    Sense id: en-to_save_one's_life-en-phrase-W4esyUxf Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English entries with language name categories using raw markup, English negative polarity items, English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 74 26 Disambiguation of English entries with language name categories using raw markup: 85 15 Disambiguation of English negative polarity items: 78 22 Disambiguation of English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys: 77 23
  2. (informal, hyperbolic) under any circumstances; [I'd] rather die than...(Used with "will not", "would not" etc. to emphasize refusal.) Tags: excessive, informal
    Sense id: en-to_save_one's_life-en-phrase-11hJk1Je Categories (other): English hyperboles
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Related terms: for dear life

Download JSON data for to save one's life meaning in English (2.6kB)

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        "1": "en",
        "2": "phrase"
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      "expansion": "to save one's life",
      "name": "head"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "phrase",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "for dear life"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "74 26",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
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          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "85 15",
          "kind": "other",
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          "source": "w+disamb"
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          "_dis": "78 22",
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          "source": "w+disamb"
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          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
          "parents": [
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            "Entry maintenance"
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          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "I can't dance to save my life.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1902 September 7, George Ade, “Modern Fables By George Ade. The Modern Fable of the Troubles of the Unemployed and the Danger of Changing from Bill to Harold.”, in Idaho Daily Statesman, Boise, Ida., page 16, column 5",
          "text": "After she began to have a Governoress for Stuyvesant Jimpson and an Imported Nurse for the little Evelyn Jimpson her memory began to blur in spots and she couldn’t have done up the Dishes to save her life.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "at all (Used with \"can't\", \"couldn't\" etc. to emphasize a lack of skill.)"
      ],
      "id": "en-to_save_one's_life-en-phrase-W4esyUxf",
      "links": [
        [
          "at all",
          "at all"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal) at all (Used with \"can't\", \"couldn't\" etc. to emphasize a lack of skill.)"
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "for the life of one"
        },
        {
          "word": "even if one's life depended on it"
        },
        {
          "word": "for toffee"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
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          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English hyperboles",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "She wouldn't eat baked beans to save her life.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "under any circumstances; [I'd] rather die than...(Used with \"will not\", \"would not\" etc. to emphasize refusal.)"
      ],
      "id": "en-to_save_one's_life-en-phrase-11hJk1Je",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal, hyperbolic) under any circumstances; [I'd] rather die than...(Used with \"will not\", \"would not\" etc. to emphasize refusal.)"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "excessive",
        "informal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "to save one's life"
}
{
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    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English negative polarity items",
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  "head_templates": [
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "phrase",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "for dear life"
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  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English informal terms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "I can't dance to save my life.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1902 September 7, George Ade, “Modern Fables By George Ade. The Modern Fable of the Troubles of the Unemployed and the Danger of Changing from Bill to Harold.”, in Idaho Daily Statesman, Boise, Ida., page 16, column 5",
          "text": "After she began to have a Governoress for Stuyvesant Jimpson and an Imported Nurse for the little Evelyn Jimpson her memory began to blur in spots and she couldn’t have done up the Dishes to save her life.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "at all (Used with \"can't\", \"couldn't\" etc. to emphasize a lack of skill.)"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "at all",
          "at all"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal) at all (Used with \"can't\", \"couldn't\" etc. to emphasize a lack of skill.)"
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "for the life of one"
        },
        {
          "word": "even if one's life depended on it"
        },
        {
          "word": "for toffee"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English hyperboles",
        "English informal terms",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "She wouldn't eat baked beans to save her life.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "under any circumstances; [I'd] rather die than...(Used with \"will not\", \"would not\" etc. to emphasize refusal.)"
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal, hyperbolic) under any circumstances; [I'd] rather die than...(Used with \"will not\", \"would not\" etc. to emphasize refusal.)"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "excessive",
        "informal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "to save one's life"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-22 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (fc4f0c7 and c937495). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.