bucket list

buck·et list
UK/ˈbʌkɪt ˌlɪst/US/ˈbʌkət ˌlɪst/

noun

A list of tasks arising during a meeting that are put aside to be dealt with later.

“a winter bucket list”

First used late 20th c.

Meanings

nounbucket list (plural bucket lists)

plural bucket lists

  1. idiomaticA list of tasks arising during a meeting that are put aside to be dealt with later.First known use late 20th c.

    As you go through each step during the session, keep a "bucket list" of items that will need followup action

    1997, Suzan L[inn] Jackson, “Getting Started”, in The ISO14001 Implementation Guide: Creating an Integrated Management System, New York, N.Y.: John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 226
    3 more examples

    A "bucket" list is simply a formal procedure for recording items of concern that arise during work on other agenda items.

    1978, James D. Anderson, Ezra Earl Jones, “The Primary Task of Ministry”, in The Management of Ministry, San Francisco, Calif.: Harper & Row, →ISBN, page 151

    The figures and section drawings contain many of the most important locus numbers. We are not publishing a complete bucket list.

    [1990, Eric M. Meyers, Carol Meyers, James F. Strange, “Introduction”, in Excavations at the Ancient Synagogue of Gush Ḥalav (Meiron Excavation Project; V), Winona Lake, Ind.: [F]or the American Schools of Oriental Research by Eisenbrauns, →ISBN, page 1

    Focus on only one issue at a time. Whenever a new issue arises, don't ignore it, but don't allow the meeting to get distracted from the current topic. Always record each new issue on a posted "parking lot" or "bucket list" in the meeting room.

    2004, Tom Kendrick, “Meeting Execution”, in The Project Management Tool Kit: 100 Tips and Techniques for Getting the Job Done Right, 2nd edition, New York, N.Y.: Amacom, American Management Association, published 2010, →ISBN, page 87
  2. idiomaticA list of things to accomplish before one's death.First known use late 20th c.

    I'm a helicopter pilot, not a writer. Still, it's been a dream of mine to someday write a book. It's ranked near the top on my list of things I want to do someday, my "bucket list," if you will.

    2009 August 10, Robert Deeter, chapter 8, in Bullseye: Journal of a Black Hawk Pilot, Bloomington, Ind.: AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 102
    3 more examples

    Q: What projects are you working on now and in the near future? [Rob Reiner] I'm hoping by the end of October to be shooting a film I've been working on called "The Bucket List," starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. […] They find out they are terminal. They know they don't have much longer to live. It's about working out the issues you need to work out before you die. […] Q: Do you have your own "bucket list"? [Reiner] You know, I don't. I've gone on with my life always trying to do positive things and make things better and the world better. […] I want to see my kids do well, but that's not a "bucket list"

    2006 September 2, Peterson Gonzaga, “Reiner gets animated in ‘Everybody’s Hero’”, in Herald News, West Paterson, N.J.: Gannett, →ISSN, →OCLC, page D4, columns 3–4

    "They told me hiking down into the canyon was on their bucket list." / She nodded. "I hear that all the time. People all over the world have the Grand Canyon on their bucket list." / Jake frowned. "I don't have a bucket list."

    2010, Annalisa Daughety, chapter 23, in Love is Grand (A Walk in the Park; 3), Uhrichsville, Oh.: Barbour Publishing, →ISBN, page 168

    The beauty of bucket lists is that just as they represent us and our dreams, like us they also grow and change. You will be surprised once you have begun the bucket list journey at how opportunities spring up around you. New ideas beg to be added to your list. Even the act of completing a bucket list goal can be the source of further exploration.

    2014, Lara Krupika, “How to Use this Book”, in Bucket List Living for Moms: Becoming a More Adventurous Parent, Cork, County Cork: BookBaby, →ISBN
    1. broadlyidiomaticA list of things to accomplish before a certain deadline or in a certain time period.

      a winter bucket list

  3. idiomaticcomputerA data structure containing buckets used in a hashing algorithm.First known use mid 20th c.

    Using a bucket list structure[…], the program sorts each incoming word serially, constructing a list within each of 256 buckets for good words of a given alphabetic range […]

    1960 July 25, J. C. Olney, Feat, an Inventory Program for Information Retrieval (FN-4018), Santa Monica, Calif.: System Development Corporation; quoted in Mary Elizabeth Stevens, “Operational Considerations”, in Automatic Indexing: A State-of-the-Art Report (National Bureau of Standards Monograph; 91), Washington, D.C.: National Bureau of Standards, United States Department of Commerce, 30 March 1965, reissued February 1970, →OCLC, page 170
    1 more example

    In place of direct storage in the block we might substitute pointers to linked bucket lists of the elements having the same hash addresses. After hashing B#95;x and retrieving the pointer to the appropriate bucket list, we search the list for B#95;x, and if not found, add it to the end of the list.

    1975, Terrence W. Pratt, “Data”, in Programming Languages: Design and Implementation, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, →ISBN, page 83

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see

Origin

  1. Old Frenchbuquet“balance; trebuchet”
  2. Englishbucket list

From bucket + list. Sense 1 (“list of tasks arising during a meeting”) may allude to a notional bucket in which tasks to be dealt with later are placed. Sense 2 (“list of things to accomplish before one’s death”) refers to kick the bucket (“to die”), bucket in this sense possibly referring to a beam to which a pig is hung by its heels after it has been slaughtered (possibly from Old French buquet (“balance; trebuchet”)). It was coined by the American and British screenwriter Justin Zackham in 1999 when he drew up “Justin’s List of Things to Do before I Kick the Bucket” which he shortened to “Justin’s Bucket List”. The first item on his list was to have a screenplay produced at a major Hollywood studio. After a few years, it occurred to him that the notion of a “bucket list” could be the basis for a film, so he wrote a screenplay about two dying men racing to complete their own bucket lists with the time they had left, which became the film The Bucket List (2007). The term was then popularized by the film.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Catalan llista de tasques, llista de coses a fer
  • llista de tasqueslist of tasks arising during a meeting that are put aside to be dealt with later
  • llista de coses a ferlist of tasks arising during a meeting that are put aside to be dealt with later
  • llista de tasqueslist of things to accomplish before a certain deadline or in a certain time period
  • llista de coses a ferlist of things to accomplish before a certain deadline or in a certain time period
  • llista de coses a fer abans de morira list of things to accomplish before one’s death
Chinese Mandarin 平生夢想單 /平生梦想单, 平生願望單 /平生愿望单
  • 平生夢想單 /平生梦想单 (píngshēng mèngxiǎng dān)a list of things to accomplish before one’s death
  • 平生願望單 /平生愿望单 (píngshēng yuànwàng dān)a list of things to accomplish before one’s death
  • 人生願望清單 /人生愿望清单 (rénshēng yuànwàng qīngdān)a list of things to accomplish before one’s death
Dutch bucketlist, loodjeslijst
  • bucketlista list of things to accomplish before one’s death
  • loodjeslijsta list of things to accomplish before one’s death
Finnish tehtävälista, tehtävien asioiden lista
  • tehtävälistalist of tasks arising during a meeting that are put aside to be dealt with later
  • tehtävien asioiden listalist of things to accomplish before a certain deadline or in a certain time period
  • lista lokeroitadata structure containing buckets used in a hashing algorithm
  • veivilistaa list of things to accomplish before one’s death
French liste de choses à faire avant de mourir
  • liste de choses à faire avant de mourira list of things to accomplish before one’s death
German Löffelliste, langfristige Wunschliste
  • Löffellistea list of things to accomplish before one’s death
  • langfristige Wunschlistea list of things to accomplish before one’s death
Greek λίστα επιθυμιών
  • λίστα επιθυμιών (lísta epithymión)a list of things to accomplish before one’s death
Hungarian bakancslista
  • bakancslistaa list of things to accomplish before one’s death
Icelandic klakkslisti
  • klakkslistia list of things to accomplish before one’s death
Italian lista dei desideri
  • lista dei desideria list of things to accomplish before one’s death
Japanese 死ぬまでしたい事
  • 死ぬまでしたい事 (shinu made shitai koto)a list of things to accomplish before one’s death
Polish lista rzeczy do zrobienia na później, lista rzeczy do zrobienia przed deadline'em
  • lista rzeczy do zrobienia na późniejlist of tasks arising during a meeting that are put aside to be dealt with later
  • lista rzeczy do zrobienia przed deadline'emlist of things to accomplish before a certain deadline or in a certain time period
  • bucket listdata structure containing buckets used in a hashing algorithm
  • lista rzeczy do zrobienia przed śmierciąa list of things to accomplish before one’s death
Portuguese lista de desejos
  • lista de desejosa list of things to accomplish before one’s death
Russian список того, что нужно сделать за жизнь
  • список того, что нужно сделать за жизнь (spisok tovo, što nužno sdelatʹ za žiznʹ)a list of things to accomplish before one’s death
Spanish lista de cosas por / para hacer antes de morir
  • lista de cosas por / para hacer antes de morira list of things to accomplish before one’s death
Swedish bucketlist
  • bucketlista list of things to accomplish before one’s death
Turkish yapılacaklar listesi
  • yapılacaklar listesia list of things to accomplish before one’s death
Ukrainian список справ перед смертю
  • список справ перед смертю (spysok sprav pered smertju)a list of things to accomplish before one’s death
Cite this entry
APA

bucket list. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bucket%20list

MLA

“bucket list.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bucket%20list. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bucket list,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bucket%20list.

Source: bucket list on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.