cradle-to-grave

adjective

Spanning an entire lifetime, from birth to death.

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Meanings

adjectivecradle-to-grave (not comparable)
  1. idiomaticnot comparableSpanning an entire lifetime, from birth to death.

    Politics should be a cradle-to-grave calling: anything else is mere distraction.

    2010, Mungo MacCallum, The Monthly, April 2010, Issue 55, The Monthly Ptd Ltd, page 28
    2 more examples

    Unsustainable human activities are creating an open loop “cradle-to-grave” system that cannot continue and has one day to reach a conclusion. Closing the loop for renewable resources is the role of changing the “cradle-to-grave” concept to a “cradle-to-cradle” concept as discussed in chapter 1.

    2010, Salah El Haggar, Sustainable Industrial Design and Waste Management, Academic Press, →ISBN, page 125

    The 'cradle-to-grave' approach that the company takes to rolling stock, which typically has an asset lifecycle of up to 35 years, has made the sector attractive to investors - […].

    2023 June 14, “Engineering a brighter future for UK rail”, in RAIL, number 985, page 52
Cite this entry
APA

cradle-to-grave. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cradle-to-grave

MLA

“cradle-to-grave.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cradle-to-grave. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cradle-to-grave,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cradle-to-grave.

Source: cradle-to-grave on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.