life

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The state of being alive.

   The doctors fought to save the patient's life.

2. 2
   noun

   The way a person lives, or their experiences over time.

   She has had a happy life with her family.

3. 3
   noun

   The period of time during which a person is alive.

   He lived in the same town his whole life.

4. 4
   noun

   Living things in general.

   The oceans are full of life.

5. 5
   noun

   The length of time something works or lasts.

   The battery had a short life and soon needed replacing.

Common collocations

• daily life Adjective + noun
• social life Adjective + noun
• change a life Verb + noun
• lose a life Verb + noun
• save a life Verb + noun
• private life Adjective + noun
• lead a life Verb + noun
• eternal life Adjective + noun
• life assurance Noun + noun
• life coaching Noun + noun
• life imprisonment Noun + noun
• life preserver Noun + noun

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 S…

Topics

External links

• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary
• Google Images