Deadline definition
If you have to have a report in by 5 PM or it is considered late, 5 PM is an example of a deadline.
A deadline for payment, publication, etc.
Other Word Forms
Noun
Origin of deadline
- The context of a due date originated in journalism, probably from an earlier usage in printing, representing a guideline marked on a plate for a printing press (inside which all content should appear). According to the Oxford English Dictionary, early usage refers simply to lines that do not move, such as one used in angling; slightly later American usage includes a boundary around a prison which prisoners must not cross.
From Wiktionary