life
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also Life
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[edit] English
[edit] Etymology
Old English līf, from Proto-Germanic *līban, from Proto-Indo-European *lībʰ-. Cognate with Dutch lijf (“body”), Low German lif, German Leib (“body”), Swedish liv (“waist, life”).
[edit] Pronunciation
[edit] Noun
life (plural lives)
- The state that follows birth, and precedes death; the state of being alive and living.
- He gave up on life.
- Having experienced both, the vampire decided that he preferred (un)death to life.
- The period during which one (a person, an animal, a plant, a star) is alive.
- 1916, Ezra Meeker, The Busy Life of Eighty-Five Years of Ezra Meeker
- The span of time during which an object operates.
- This light bulb is designed to have a life of 2,000 hours.
- The period of time during which an object is recognizable.
- The life of this milk carton may be thousands of years in this landfill.
- (biology) A status given to any entity including animals, plants, fungi, bacteria, etc. — and sometimes viruses — having the properties of replication and metabolism.
- (philosophy) The essence of the manifestation and the foundation of the being.
- 1918, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Land That Time Forgot Chapter VI
- "...I realize as never before how cheap and valueless a thing is life. Life seems a joke, a cruel, grim joke. You are a laughable incident or a terrifying one as you happen to be less powerful or more powerful than some other form of life which crosses your path; but as a rule you are of no moment whatsoever to anything but yourself. You are a comic little figure, hopping from the cradle to the grave. Yes, that is our trouble--we take ourselves too seriously; but Caprona should be a sure cure for that." She paused and laughed.
- 1918, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Land That Time Forgot Chapter VI
- (phenomenology) the subjective and inner manifestation of the individual.
- The world in general; existence.
- Man's life on this planet has been marked by continual conflict.
- 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!
- (usually of a person) The most worthwhile component or participant
- 1970 Mathuram Bhoothalingam, The finger on the lute: the story of Mahakavi Subramania Bharati, National Council of Educational Research and Training, p87
- "Don't I know that it is you who is the life of this house. Two delightful children!
- 1998 Monica F. Cohen, Professional domesticity in the Victorian novel: women, work and home, Cambridge University Press, p32
- And he is the life of the party at the Musgroves for precisely this reason: the navy has made him into a great storyteller.
- 1970 Mathuram Bhoothalingam, The finger on the lute: the story of Mahakavi Subramania Bharati, National Council of Educational Research and Training, p87
- A biography.
- His life of the founder is finished, except for the title.
- Something which is inherently part of a person's existence, such as job, family, a loved one, etc.
- She's my love, my life.
- (colloquial) A life sentence; a term of imprisonment of a convict until his or her death.
- (video games) One of the player's chances to play, lost when a mistake is made.
- Scoring 1000 points is rewarded with an extra life.
[edit] Quotations
- (philosophy, essence of manifestation and foundation of being): 1994: Violet Quill, Robert Ferro:
- Most things in life, including life itself, seemed to have articulated sections, discrete and separate and straightforward.
[edit] Synonyms
- (philosophy, essence of manifestation and foundation of being): existence, experience
- (the world in general): time
[edit] Antonyms
[edit] Derived terms
Terms derived from life
[edit] Related terms
[edit] Translations
The state between birth and death
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a status given to an entity with the properties of replication and metabolism
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the essence of the manifestation and the foundation of the being
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the subjective and inner manifestation of the individual
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The world in general, existence
A worthwhile existence
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something inherently part of a person's existence
life sentence
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duration
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked
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[edit] External links
- Biological life
- Phenomenological life
- Philosophy of the life
- life in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- life in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
