life.
The state of organisms preceding their death, characterized by biological processes such as metabolism and reproduction and distinguishing them from inanimate objects; the state of being alive and living.
Meaning & usage
The state of organisms preceding their death, characterized by biological processes such as metabolism and reproduction and distinguishing them from inanimate objects; the state of being alive and living.
I want my kids to live a good life. He gave up on life.
The state of organisms preceding their death, characterized by biological processes such as metabolism and reproduction and distinguishing them from inanimate objects; the state of being alive and living. The status possessed by any of a number of entities, including animals, plants, fungi, bacteria, and sometimes viruses, which have the properties of replication and metabolism.
The animating principle or force that keeps an inorganic thing or concept metaphorically alive (dynamic, relevant, etc) and makes it a “living document”, “living constitution”, etc.
Lifeforms, generally or collectively.
A living being; the fact of a particular individual being alive. (Chiefly when indicating individuals were lost (died) or saved.)
Many lives were lost during the war. Her quick thinking saved many dogs' lives.
Existence.
Life is meaningless and we are all going to die.
Man's life on this planet has been marked by continual conflict.
Existence. A worthwhile existence.
He gets up early in the morning, works all day long — even on weekends — and hardly sees his family. That's no life! His life was ruined by drugs.
Existence. A particular aspect of existence.
He struggled to balance his family life, social life and work life.
sex life
Existence. Social life.
Get a life.
Existence. Something which is inherently part of a person's existence, such as job, family, a loved one, etc.
She's my love, my life. Running the bakery is her life.
A period of time during which something has existence. The period during which one (a person, an animal, a plant; a civilization, species; a star; etc) is alive.
A period of time during which something has existence. The span of time during which an object operates.
This light bulb is designed to have a life of 2,000 hours.
A period of time during which something has existence. The period of time during which an object is recognizable.
The life of this milk carton may be thousands of years in this landfill.
A period of time during which something has existence. A particular phase or period of existence.
A period of time during which something has existence. A period extending from a when a (positive or negative) office, punishment, etc is conferred on someone until that person dies (or, sometimes, reaches retirement age).
A period of time during which something has existence. A period extending from a when a (positive or negative) office, punishment, etc is conferred on someone until that person dies (or, sometimes, reaches retirement age). A life sentence; a period of imprisonment that lasts until the convict's death (or, sometimes, parole).
Animation; spirit; vivacity.
Animation; spirit; vivacity. The most lively component or participant.
A biography.
His life of the founder is finished, except for the title.
Nature, reality, and the forms that exist in it.
An opportunity for existence.
An opportunity for existence. One of the player's chances to play, lost when the player's character dies or when certain mistakes are made.
Scoring 1000 points is rewarded with an extra life.
An opportunity for existence. A chance for the batter (or batting team) to bat again, given as a result of a misplay by a member of the fielding team.
An opportunity for existence. One of a player's chances to play in various children's playground games, lost when a mistake is made, for example being struck by the ball in dodgeball.
The life insurance industry.
I work in life.
A life assured under a life assurance policy (equivalent to the policy itself for a single life contract).
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *leyp- Proto-Germanic *lībanąder. Proto-Germanic *lībą Proto-West Germanic *līb Old English līf Middle English lyf English life From Middle English lyf, from Old English līf, from Proto-West Germanic *līb, from Proto-Germanic *lībą (“life, body”), from *lībaną (“to remain, stay, be left”), from Proto-Indo-European *leyp- (“to stick, glue”). Cognate with Scots life, leif (“life”), Saterland Frisian Lieuw (“body”), West Frisian liif (“body”), Cimbrian laip (“body”), Dutch lijf (“body”) and leven (“life”), German Leib (“body; womb”) and Leben (“life”), Low German Lief (“body; life”), Luxembourgish Leif, Läif (“body”), Vilamovian łaowa (“life”), Yiddish לײַב (layb, “body”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish liv (“life; waist”), Faroese lív (“life”), Icelandic líf (“life”). Related to belive. The sense "biography" is likely a semantic loan from Medieval Latin vīta (“biography; hagiography”).
To replace components whose operational lifetime has expired.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *leyp- Proto-Germanic *lībanąder. Proto-Germanic *lībą Proto-West Germanic *līb Old English līf Middle English lyf English life From Middle English lyf, from Old English līf, from Proto-West Germanic *līb, from Proto-Germanic *lībą (“life, body”), from *lībaną (“to remain, stay, be left”), from Proto-Indo-European *leyp- (“to stick, glue”). Cognate with Scots life, leif (“life”), Saterland Frisian Lieuw (“body”), West Frisian liif (“body”), Cimbrian laip (“body”), Dutch lijf (“body”) and leven (“life”), German Leib (“body; womb”) and Leben (“life”), Low German Lief (“body; life”), Luxembourgish Leif, Läif (“body”), Vilamovian łaowa (“life”), Yiddish לײַב (layb, “body”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish liv (“life; waist”), Faroese lív (“life”), Icelandic líf (“life”). Related to belive. The sense "biography" is likely a semantic loan from Medieval Latin vīta (“biography; hagiography”).
Synonym of God's life (an oath).
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *leyp- Proto-Germanic *lībanąder. Proto-Germanic *lībą Proto-West Germanic *līb Old English līf Middle English lyf English life From Middle English lyf, from Old English līf, from Proto-West Germanic *līb, from Proto-Germanic *lībą (“life, body”), from *lībaną (“to remain, stay, be left”), from Proto-Indo-European *leyp- (“to stick, glue”). Cognate with Scots life, leif (“life”), Saterland Frisian Lieuw (“body”), West Frisian liif (“body”), Cimbrian laip (“body”), Dutch lijf (“body”) and leven (“life”), German Leib (“body; womb”) and Leben (“life”), Low German Lief (“body; life”), Luxembourgish Leif, Läif (“body”), Vilamovian łaowa (“life”), Yiddish לײַב (layb, “body”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish liv (“life; waist”), Faroese lív (“life”), Icelandic líf (“life”). Related to belive. The sense "biography" is likely a semantic loan from Medieval Latin vīta (“biography; hagiography”).
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.