last full measure
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.57 in modern English
20
Scrabble Score
15
Letters
4
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A person's life, when lost through death in service to a nation or cause, particularly as a member of a military force in war or a semi-militarized organization such as a police force or civil defense corps, e.g. fire departments. May also be applied to some dangerous government and civil occupations such as espionage.
Example Sentences
- "Near-synonym: martyrdom"
- "Today we mourn these heroes who gave the last full measure in support of freedom."
- "It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."