lifes

Noun

life (usually uncountable, plural lives)

1. (usually) 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.
   1. (usually) 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.
2. (usually) 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.
   • The life of the law has not been logic; it has been experience.1881, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., The Common Law
3. (usually) Lifeforms, generally or collectively.
   • It's life, but not as we know it. She discovered plant life on the planet. The rover discovered signs of life on the alien world.
4. (countable, usually) 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.
5. (usually) Existence.
   • Life is meaningless and we are all going to die.

See all 31 meanings of life