Lifelong means lasting or continuing for your entire life. A lifelong friendship is one that endures from childhood into old age. A lifelong dream is something you've wanted since you were young and still hope to achieve decades later.

The word describes commitments, interests, or conditions that persist through all of life's changes. Someone might be a lifelong learner who never stops being curious and studying new things. A person might have a lifelong love of music, playing piano from age five until ninety. Others face lifelong challenges, like managing a chronic illness that requires ongoing attention.

Lifelong carries a sense of dedication and permanence. It's not something fleeting or temporary. When someone makes a lifelong commitment, whether to a career, a place, or a person, they're pledging to stick with it through good times and bad, through all the chapters of their life.