lifer
noun
lif·er ˈlī-fər 
1
: a person sentenced to imprisonment for life
2
: a person who makes a career of one of the armed forces
3
: a person who has made a lifelong commitment (as to a way of life)
Example Sentences
He was a lifer at the factory.
Recent Examples on the Web All signs pointed to his being a Stanford lifer, clicking through slide decks until his hair and beard took on a Socratic quality. 
Anthony Lydgate, WIRED, 6 Sep. 2022 The 2014 inductee to the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame has been a broadcast lifer. Michael Casagrande | Mcasagrande@al.com, al, 3 Aug. 2022 Dunn, a basketball lifer and longtime coach and executive, recommended Tully Bevilaqua, a former guard who spent six of her 14 WNBA seasons in Indiana. Wilson Moore, The Indianapolis Star, 10 Aug. 2022 Still, the music lifer who started writing songs at age 12 can’t help but lean on old tropes. Dan Hyman, SPIN, 24 June 2022 Before his departure, the baseball lifer taught Hill about the nuances of bunting. Evan Petzold, Detroit Free Press, 1 May 2022 Demeritte was emphatically waved home by third-base coach Ron Washington, the baseball lifer who turned 70 on the day Atlanta opened the series in Texas. Stephen Hawkins, ajc, 30 Apr. 2022 Former lifer, Anthony Pickens, 39, credited the club with showing him what altruism looks like. oregonlive, 8 May 2022 Writer and creator Catherine Tate plays multiple characters from Laura Willis, the Governor who believes creativity leads to rehabilitation, to Big Viv, the psychopath lifer. Jacob Siegal, BGR, 18 Apr. 2022 See More
Anthony Lydgate, WIRED, 6 Sep. 2022 The 2014 inductee to the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame has been a broadcast lifer. Michael Casagrande | Mcasagrande@al.com, al, 3 Aug. 2022 Dunn, a basketball lifer and longtime coach and executive, recommended Tully Bevilaqua, a former guard who spent six of her 14 WNBA seasons in Indiana. Wilson Moore, The Indianapolis Star, 10 Aug. 2022 Still, the music lifer who started writing songs at age 12 can’t help but lean on old tropes. Dan Hyman, SPIN, 24 June 2022 Before his departure, the baseball lifer taught Hill about the nuances of bunting. Evan Petzold, Detroit Free Press, 1 May 2022 Demeritte was emphatically waved home by third-base coach Ron Washington, the baseball lifer who turned 70 on the day Atlanta opened the series in Texas. Stephen Hawkins, ajc, 30 Apr. 2022 Former lifer, Anthony Pickens, 39, credited the club with showing him what altruism looks like. oregonlive, 8 May 2022 Writer and creator Catherine Tate plays multiple characters from Laura Willis, the Governor who believes creativity leads to rehabilitation, to Big Viv, the psychopath lifer. Jacob Siegal, BGR, 18 Apr. 2022 See More Word History
First Known Use
1827, in the meaning defined at sense 1
lifer
noun
1
as in convict
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
- convict
- jailbird
- prisoner
- con
- inmate
- trusty
- parolee
- captive
- capture
- internee
- probationer
2
as in veteran
Synonyms & Similar Words
- veteran
- combatant
- draftee
- warhorse
- recruit
- reservist
- noncombatant
- guerrilla
- conscript
- enrollee
- guardsman
- paramilitary
- militiaman
- irregular
- minuteman
- counterguerrilla
- guerilla
- knight
- partisan
- partizan
- champion
- lancer
- counterguerilla
- archer
- spearman
- GI
- pikeman
- digger
- Confederate
- gendarme
- Continental
- crossbowman
- gallowglass
- Federal
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- civilian
- synrhabdosome
- synsacrum
- synscp
- synsemantic
- synsepalous
- syntactic
- syntactic construction
- syntactic definition
- syntactic foam
- syntactical
- syntactically
- syntacticcer
- syntacticcest
- syntacticer
- syntacticest
- syntactician
- syntacticians
- syntacticly
- syntactics
- syntagm
- syntagma
- syntagmas
- syntagmata
- syntagmatic
- syntagms