prolonged

adjective

pro·​longed prə-ˈlȯŋd 

: continuing for a notably long time : extended in duration

a prolonged delay

a prolonged recession

a prolonged absence

a prolonged drought

And in today's competitive situation a prolonged strike can very easily lead to a serious loss of market share which is difficult, if not impossible, to recapture.

—David Reid

Sometimes the only answer is a prolonged time away from the sport followed by a slow, steady reconditioning program along with physiotherapy of some type …

—William J. Goldwag

prolongedly

prə-ˈlȯŋ-əd-lē 

adverb

… and Andy demonstrates … the odd talent of coughing in his sleep, coughing prolongedly without waking himself.

—John Updike

Examples of prolonged in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The child had multiple injuries to his ribs in various states of healing, serving as further evidence of a prolonged period of abuse, Junig said. —Molly Crane-Newman, New York Daily News, 5 Mar. 2025

China’s growth target is likely to reinforce calls for more forceful stimulus from Beijing this year, as the economy has struggled to emerge from a prolonged real estate slump, weak consumer confidence and local government debt stress. —Evelyn Cheng,anniek Bao, CNBC, 5 Mar. 2025

Irving was quickly ruled out with a knee sprain after only 9:25 on the floor — and the Mavericks finished the night looking like a team coping with the potential loss of their best scorer for a prolonged period. —Chris Biderman, Sacramento Bee, 4 Mar. 2025

Beyond direct financial damage to the company, a prolonged outage can have significant ramifications for connected organizations and even put lives at risk. —Karthik Sj, Forbes, 28 Feb. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1525, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for prolonged

• belonged
• longed
• pronged
• thronged
• wronged