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life
has definitions from the fields of biology,writing
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[ noun ] a characteristic state or mode of living
Examples "social life" "city life" "real life" Used in print (William G. Pollard, Physicist and Christian....)The conversation of the characters creates an atmosphere suggesting the usual mixture of pleasures , foibles , irritations , and concerns which would characterize the common life of a normal village in any age . (Tristram P. Coffin, "Folklore in the American Twentieth...)Nor is it an accident that baseball , growing into the national game in the last 75 years , has become a microcosm of American life , that learned societies such_as the American_Folklore_Society and the American_Historical_Association were founded in the 1880's , or that courses in American literature , American civilization , American anything have swept our school and college curricula . The collector enjoys the contact with rural life ; he hunts folklore for the very `` field and stream '' reasons that many persons hunt game ; and only rarely is he acutely concerned with the meaning of what he has located . Robert_Frost , for_instance , writes about rural life in New_England , but he does not include any significant amount of folklore in his poems . (B. J. D. Meeuse, The Story of Pollination....)After_all , social life in the group of the bees is by_no_means general , although it certainly is a striking feature . |
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[ noun ] the experience of living; the course of human events and activities
Synonyms Examples "he could no longer cope with the complexities of life" Used in print (The Providence Journal...)A word should be said for Gary_Morgan , a Broadway youngsters who , as the adopted son , makes life miserable for nearly everybody and Larkin in particular . If most_of them were n't exactly specific - well , that 's the way it is in life , I guess . (Jaroslav Pelikan, The Shape of Death: life, death and...)Man 's life , originally shaped for immortality and for communion with God , must now be conformed_to the shape of death . (Nathan Rapport, ""I've Been Here before!"...)When consciousness deserts the sleeping body and the wakeful world , it continues in the myriad progressions of the ever-present past and future , in a life as vibrant and real as the one left when the body tired and required sleep . (Howard Nemerov, "Themes and Methods: The Early...)At_the_same_time the multiple transvestitism involved - the fat man as girl and as baby , as coquette pretending to be a baby - touches for a moment horrifyingly upon the secret sources of a life like Jacoby 's , upon the sinister dreams which form the sources of any human life . Related terms |
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[ noun ] the course of existence of an individual; the actions and events that occur in living
Examples "he hoped for a new life in Australia" "he wanted to live his own life without interference from others" Used in print (William G. Pollard, Physicist and Christian....)Science has simply left us helpless and powerless in this important sector of our lives . (Jaroslav Pelikan, The Shape of Death: life, death and...)Christianity declares that in the life and death of Jesus_Christ the unique and the universal concur . Such efforts almost always find themselves compelled to ask whether Adam was created capable of growing old and_then older and_then still older , in_short , whether Adam 's life was intended to be part of the process of time . The embarrassment of these theories over the naturalness of death is an illustration of the thesis that death cannot be only a punishment , for some termination seems necessary in a life that is lived within the natural_order of time and change . (Bonnie Prudden, "The Dancer and the Gymnast"...)Another reason gymnastic study is valuable is that it can be started very early in life . Related terms |
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[ noun ] the condition of living or the state of being alive
Examples "while there's life there's hope" "life depends on many chemical and physical processes" Used in print (L. Don Leet and Florence J. Leet, editors, The World of...)Many_of them paid for their curiosity with their lives , for some minutes later the first giant wave roared over the shore . (Peter J. White, "Report on Laos"...)Even life in_harmony with death . (Gene Caesar, Rifle for Rent....)If you do n't leave this country within 3 days , your life will be taken the same as Powell 's was . |
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[ noun ] the period during which something is functional (as between birth and death)
Examples "the battery had a short life" "he lived a long and happy life" Used in print (Musical America, LXXXI:5...)It is at this point in his life that the mature Prokofieff emerges . How differently Prokofieff 's life unfolded . (Walter H. Buchsbaum, "Advances in Medical Electronics"...)Battery life limited the use of this `` pill '' to about 8 to 30 hours maximum . (Bern Dibner, "Oerstad and the Discovery of Electro...)Oersted 's boyhood represented a minimal chance of either attaining greatness or serving his people so well and over so long a span of life . (James Bryant Conant, Slums and Suburbs...)In_a_sense almost all high_school and college courses could be considered as vocational to the extent that later in life the student in his vocation ( which may be a profession ) will be called_upon to use some of the skills developed and the competence obtained . Related terms time_period afterlife life_expectancy death birth age time_of_life |
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[ noun ] the period between birth and the present time
Examples "I have known him all his life" Used in print ("Editorials"...)But to imitate an opponent when he has made the mistake of his life would be a new high in statesmanlike folly . (Nathan Rapport, ""I've Been Here before!"...)Rudyard_Kipling 's scorn for the `` jargon '' of psychical research was altered somewhat when he wondered `` how , or why , had I been shown an unreleased roll of my life film '' ? (Jack Kaplan, "The Health Machine Menace: Therapy by...)Mr._A. , her fellow townsman , also experienced a nervous_breakdown just as_soon_as he discovered that he had been bilked of his life savings by the limited practitioner who had been treating his wife - a woman suffering from an incurable disease , multiple_sclerosis - and himself . The victims of the quacks are frequently poor people , like Mr._A. , who scrape_up their life savings to offer as a sacrifice to Doctor_Fraud 's avarice . (Tristram Coffin, Not to the Swift....)At_the_same_time , you have_to face facts and realize that a man who 's been in the Marine_Corps all his life does n't understand much about politics . Related terms |
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[ noun ] animation and energy in action or expression
Synonyms Examples "it was a heavy play and the actors tried in vain to give life to it" Used in print (William G. Pollard, Physicist and Christian....)It is spirit which gives life to a community and causes it to cohere . (Robert A. Futterman, The Future of Our Cities....)Historically in America the appeal of cities has been their color and life , the variety of experience they offered . (Frieda Arkin, "The Light of the Sea," in The...)Both of them had known the feeling of the small life in her waiting , ready , for the two of them to run_up her sails . |
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[ noun ] (biology) living things collectively
Examples "the oceans are teeming with life" Used in print (L. Don Leet and Florence J. Leet, editors, The World of...)Life has evolved from simple combinations of molecules in the sea to complex combinations in man . (Helen Hooven Santmyer, "There Were Fences"...)From above one could only occasionally catch_a_glimpse of life on the floor of this green sea : a neighbor 's gingham skirt flashing into sight for an instant on the path beneath her grape-arbor , or the movement of hands above a clothesline and the flutter of garments hung there , half-way down the block . |
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[ noun ] the period from the present until death
Examples "he appointed himself emperor for life" Used in print (Bern Dibner, "Oerstad and the Discovery of Electro...)His earlier love for literature and history remained with him for his entire life . (Peter J. White, "Report on Laos"...)and getting them seemed a life 's work . (Jesse Hill Ford, Mountains of Gilead....)And you know you will always wonder all_of your life whether it was because you wanted him so bad that you did n't get him , and you can feel nearly sorry enough to cry when you think_of that other guy , the chump who begged you to marry him , the one with the plastered hair and the car he could n't afford and the too shiny shoes . Related terms |
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[ noun ] a living person
Examples "his heroism saved a life" Used in print (Glayds H. Barr, The Master of Geneva....)He is throttling the liberty my father gave his life to win '' ! Related terms |
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[ noun ] (biology) the organic phenomenon that distinguishes living organisms from nonliving ones
Examples "there is no life on the moon" Used in print (Clayton C. Barbeau, The Ikon....)He saw no life , but still stood there for a time peering at the unlovely hills , his gaze continually returning to Papa-san . (Robert Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land....)But he was looking_forward to snow - seeing for himself that each tiny crystal of the water of life was a unique individual , as he had read - walking barefoot , rolling in it . Related terms |
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[ noun ] (writing) an account of the series of events making up a person's life
Synonyms Used in print (Jane Gilmore Rushing, "Against the Moon,"...)Finally he said , `` Tell me about yourself '' , and Linda_Kay told him , because she thought herself that she had had an interesting life . Related terms |
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[ noun ] a motive for living
Examples "pottery was his life" Used in print (John Cheever, "The Brigadier and the Golf Widow,"...)It was her destiny ; it was her life . Related terms |
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[ noun ] a prison term lasting as long as the prisoner lives
Synonyms Examples "he got life for killing the guard" Related terms |
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