Meanings
- not comparableVery rare; likely to happen only once in a given generation.
Trump has said that undocumented immigrants share the blame for America’s once-in-a-generation home affordability crisis, but the president-elect’s deportation plans may backfire, driving up the cost of homebuying even further.
2024 November 19, Samantha Delouya and Julia Vargas Jones, “Here’s how mass deportations could change the housing market”, in CNN1 more example
Asked if such a service could be put in place again, rather than buses, Mellors said: "I think the key thing is the first two weeks of January are pretty unique, in so far as the renewal of a bridge over the M6 at Penrith is very much a once-in-a-generation project.
2025 October 1, David Stubbings, “News: S&C to carry AWC services during West Coast closure”, in RAIL, number 1045, page 17
Cite this entry
once-in-a-generation. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/once-in-a-generation
“once-in-a-generation.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/once-in-a-generation. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “once-in-a-generation,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/once-in-a-generation.
Source: once-in-a-generation on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.