- the length of time that something lasts or continues
- The school was used as a hospital for the duration of the war.
- a contract of three years’ duration
Extra Examples- Taking antibiotics will shorten the duration of the illness.
- The next contract will be of shorter duration.
- The overall duration of the flight was 11 hours.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- brief
- short
- limited
- …
- decrease
- reduce
- shorten
- …
- for the duration (of)
- of… duration
- throughout the duration of
- …
Word Originlate Middle English: via Old French from medieval Latin duratio(n-), from durare ‘to last’, from durus ‘hard’.Want to learn more?
Find out which words work together and produce more natural sounding English with the Oxford Collocations Dictionary app.
Idioms
See duration in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee duration in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic Englishfor the duration
- (informal) until the end of a particular situation, especially a war
- His wife and children had gone for the duration to the Lake District to escape the bombs.
Check pronunciation:
duration