statutory deadline

Meanings

1. 1nouncountablelegalformal

   a date or time limit that is set by law and must be obeyed

   Grammar: Countable: a statutory deadline, statutory deadlines. Often used with meet, miss, or extend.

   Patterns

   • meet a statutory deadline
   • miss a statutory deadline
   • extend a statutory deadline

   The company failed to meet the statutory deadline for filing its accounts.

   Parliament voted to extend the statutory deadline for the new rules.

   If you miss the statutory deadline, you may have to pay a fine.

2. 2nouncountablelegalformal

   the official time by which a government body must do something according to a particular law

   Grammar: Countable and formal; often used in news reports about government or public bodies.

   Patterns

   • the statutory deadline for something
   • set a statutory deadline

   The agency has a statutory deadline of 30 days to respond.

   Lawmakers are debating whether to set a statutory deadline for the cleanup.

   The report must be published before the statutory deadline.

Word forms

Common combinations

meet a statutory deadline

The department worked overtime to meet the statutory deadline.

miss a statutory deadline

The council missed the statutory deadline for publishing the results.

extend a statutory deadline

The government decided to extend the statutory deadline by three months.

statutory deadline for filing

There is a statutory deadline for filing your tax return.

Synonyms and how they differ

legal deadline

More general and less formal; it can refer to any deadline required by law, not just one in a statute.

time limit

A general phrase for any fixed period; it does not necessarily mean the limit is set by law.

Word family

statute noun

a written law passed by a parliament or congress

statutory adjective

required or allowed by law

deadline noun

a time by which something must be done

Commonly confused: statutory deadline or statuesque?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “statutory deadline”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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