Meaning & use
short deadlines
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Meaning
phraseplural
limited amounts of time by which work must be finished.
Grammar: Always plural in this phrase; the singular form is 'a short deadline'.
Patterns
- have short deadlines
- work to short deadlines
- meet short deadlines
Journalists often have short deadlines and must file stories the same day.
The team works well under short deadlines.
Short deadlines can cause stress if you do not plan ahead.
Common combinations
- under short deadlines
- She performs best under short deadlines.
- given short deadlines
- We were given short deadlines for every task.
- cope with short deadlines
- New employees must learn to cope with short deadlines.
Synonyms and how they differ
- tight deadlines
- Very similar; 'tight' emphasizes that there is barely enough time, while 'short' simply means the time is brief.
- time pressure
- A broader term for the feeling of having too little time; it does not name the deadline itself.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: short deadlines or dateline?
short deadlines vs dateline
A 'dateline' is a line in a news article showing the date and place; it is not related to time limits.
Practice
The project was difficult because we had ______ deadlines.
Choose one answer.
'Short' is the adjective that describes the deadlines. 'Shortly' is an adverb, 'shorten' is a verb, and 'shorts' is a noun for clothing.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “short deadlines”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.