How to Use mate for life in a Sentence

mate for life

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  • Those years are prime time for finding a mate for life.
    Nancy Glowinski, Los Angeles Times, 26 Aug. 2022
  • Sandhill cranes mate for life, and Ross noticed the corpse of one bird lying by the side of the road.
    Grant Sharples, SPIN, 13 Oct. 2022
  • Sandhills mate for life, which can be 20 years or more.
    Jim Gilbert, Star Tribune, 20 Aug. 2020
  • Pigeons are said to mate for life, though this describes their behavior and not the genes of their young.
    Elizabeth Preston, Discover Magazine, 27 Sep. 2012
  • Species that mate for life usually have offspring that, like our own, require a great deal of care.
    Marlene Zuk, Discover Magazine, 17 Dec. 2013
  • Geese tend to mate for life, but what happens when a grieving partner is left behind?
    Ashley R. Williams, USA TODAY, 23 Mar. 2023
  • Barn owls are a species known to mate for life, but research has found 25 percent of barn owls that pair up also divorce.
    Manasee Wagh, Popular Mechanics, 19 Jan. 2023
  • The bald eagles, who mate for life, appear to have settled in an old hawk’s nest and appear to be trying to start over, wildlife experts have said.
    Dallas News, 3 Mar. 2022
  • Once mature, whooping cranes mate for life, laying two eggs every year.
    Sara Sneath | Staff Writer, NOLA.com, 6 Sep. 2020
  • McCarthey said the cranes' ever-present communication is due, in part, to the fact that pairs mate for life and often form small family groups.
    Lindsey Botts, The Arizona Republic, 11 Feb. 2022
  • Foxes are monogamous and mate for life, and both parents are fiercely protective of their young.
    René A. Guzman, ExpressNews.com, 13 Oct. 2020
  • Roadrunners mate for life, so we were saddened when the female disappeared.
    San Diego Union-Tribune, 5 Mar. 2022
  • These large seabirds, whose dark eyebrows shadow their eyes like mascara, are socially monogamous and often mate for life.
    Jack Tamisiea, Scientific American, 24 Nov. 2021
  • Despite a spirograph-like appearance, these loops and twists actually represent the flight paths and wingbeats of a flock of jackdaws, members of the wily crow family that mate for life.
    Lacy Schley, Discover Magazine, 7 Aug. 2019
  • Mockingbirds mate for life and the nocturnal vocalizations are either young males looking for their forever mate, or older ones who have lost a mate.
    San Diego Union-Tribune, 24 July 2021
  • Climate change has also recently been linked to a rising divorce rate in albatross couples, which mate for life, and to the shrinking of dozens of species of Amazonian birds, which are evolving to have smaller bodies and longer wing spans.
    Julia Jacobo, ABC News, 30 Nov. 2021
  • Since swallows mate for life –the swallow also represents everlasting love.
    Beth Bernstein, Forbes, 20 Jan. 2022
  • Geese typically mate for life, but in August, Tammen found Bud dead on the ground, seemingly attacked by another animal.
    Kyle Melnick, Washington Post, 8 Mar. 2023
  • Other birds who mate for life, especially birds of prey, must rekindle their relationship with their mate each year, with display flights and other courtship activities.
    Laura Erickson, Popular Science, 6 Nov. 2020
  • After lunch, Earle drifted through the museum, noting lava-lamp-like jellies, filigreed basket stars, and butterfly fish, which mate for life.
    Dana Goodyear, The New Yorker, 20 June 2022
  • The research, published last week by New Zealand’s Royal Society, found an increase in the probability of divorce among albatrosses, which usually mate for life, during years with warmer sea surface temperatures.
    Marina Pitofsky, USA TODAY, 1 Dec. 2021

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'mate for life.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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