life (noun)

a characteristic state or mode of living

"social life"; "city life"; "real life"

life, living (noun)

the experience of being alive; the course of human events and activities

"he could no longer cope with the complexities of life"

life (noun)

the course of existence of an individual; the actions and events that occur in living

"he hoped for a new life in Australia"; "he wanted to live his own life without interference from others"

animation, life, living, aliveness (noun)

the condition of living or the state of being alive

"while there's life there's hope"; "life depends on many chemical and physical processes"

life, lifetime, life-time, lifespan (noun)

the period during which something is functional (as between birth and death)

"the battery had a short life"; "he lived a long and happy life"

life (noun)

the period between birth and the present time

"I have known him all his life"

life (noun)

the period from the present until death

"he appointed himself emperor for life"

life (noun)

a living person

"his heroism saved a life"

liveliness, life, spirit, sprightliness (noun)

animation and energy in action or expression

"it was a heavy play and the actors tried in vain to give life to it"

life (noun)

living things collectively

"the oceans are teeming with life"

life (noun)

the organic phenomenon that distinguishes living organisms from nonliving ones

"there is no life on the moon"

biography, life, life story, life history (noun)

an account of the series of events making up a person's life

life (noun)

a motive for living

"pottery was his life"

life sentence, life (noun)

a prison term lasting as long as the prisoner lives

"he got life for killing the guard"

life (Noun)

The state that follows birth, and precedes death; the state of being alive and living.

life (Noun)

The period during which one (a person, an animal, a plant, a star) is alive.

life (Noun)

The span of time during which an object operates.

life (Noun)

The period of time during which an object is recognizable.

life (Noun)

A status given to any entity including animals, plants, fungi, bacteria, etc. and sometimes viruses having the properties of replication and metabolism.

life (Noun)

The essence of the manifestation and the foundation of the being.

life (Noun)

the subjective and inner manifestation of the individual.

life (Noun)

The world in general; existence.

life (Noun)

A worthwhile existence.

life (Noun)

The most worthwhile component or participant

life (Noun)

A biography.

life (Noun)

Something which is inherently part of a person's existence, such as job, family, a loved one, etc.

life (Noun)

A life sentence; a term of imprisonment of a convict until his or her death.

life (Noun)

One of the player's chances to play, lost when a mistake is made.

Life (ProperNoun)

God.

Life

Life is a characteristic that distinguishes objects that have signaling and self-sustaining processes from those that do not, either because such functions have ceased, or else because they lack such functions and are classified as inanimate. Biology is the science concerned with the study of life. Any contiguous living system is called an organism. Organisms undergo metabolism, maintain homeostasis, possess a capacity to grow, respond to stimuli, reproduce and, through natural selection, adapt to their environment in successive generations. More complex living organisms can communicate through various means. A diverse array of living organisms can be found in the biosphere of Earth, and the properties common to these organisms—plants, animals, fungi, protists, archaea, and bacteria—are a carbon- and water-based cellular form with complex organization and heritable genetic information. Scientific evidence suggests that life began on Earth approximately 3.5 billion years ago. The mechanism by which life emerged on Earth is unknown although many hypotheses have been formulated. Since then, life has evolved into a wide variety of forms, which biologists have classified into a hierarchy of taxa. Life can survive and thrive in a wide range of conditions. The meaning of life—its significance, origin, purpose, and ultimate fate—is a central concept and question in philosophy and religion. Both philosophy and religion have offered interpretations as to how life relates to existence and consciousness, and on related issues such as life stance, purpose, conception of a god or gods, a soul or an afterlife. Different cultures throughout history have had widely varying approaches to these issues.

Life

Life is a characteristic that distinguishes physical entities that have biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from those that do not, either because such functions have ceased (they have died), or because they never had such functions and are classified as inanimate. Various forms of life exist, such as plants, animals, fungi, protists, archaea, and bacteria. Biology is the science concerned with the study of life. There is currently no consensus regarding the definition of life. One popular definition is that organisms are open systems that maintain homeostasis, are composed of cells, have a life cycle, undergo metabolism, can grow, adapt to their environment, respond to stimuli, reproduce and evolve. Other definitions sometimes include non-cellular life such viruses and viroids. Abiogenesis is the natural process of life arising from non-living matter, such as simple organic compounds. The prevailing scientific hypothesis is that the transition from non-living to living entities was not a single event, but a gradual process of increasing complexity. Life on Earth first appeared as early as 4.28 billion years ago, soon after ocean formation 4.41 billion years ago, and not long after the formation of the Earth 4.54 billion years ago. The earliest known life forms are microfossils of bacteria. Researchers generally think that current life on Earth descends from an RNA world, although RNA-based life may not have been the first life to have existed. The classic 1952 Miller–Urey experiment and similar research demonstrated that most amino acids, the chemical constituents of the proteins used in all living organisms, can be synthesized from inorganic compounds under conditions intended to replicate those of the early Earth. Complex organic molecules occur in the Solar System and in interstellar space, and these molecules may have provided starting material for the development of life on Earth.Since its primordial beginnings, life on Earth has changed its environment on a geologic time scale, but it has also adapted to survive in most ecosystems and conditions. Some microorganisms, called extremophiles, thrive in physically or geochemically extreme environments that are detrimental to most other life on Earth. The cell is considered the structural and functional unit of life. There are two kinds of cells, prokaryotic and eukaryotic, both of which consist of cytoplasm enclosed within a membrane and contain many biomolecules such as proteins and nucleic acids. Cells reproduce through a process of cell division, in which the parent cell divides into two or more daughter cells. In the past, there have been many attempts to define what is meant by "life" through obsolete concepts such as odic force, hylomorphism, spontaneous generation and vitalism, that have now been disproved by biological discoveries. Aristotle was the first person to classify organisms. Later, Carl Linnaeus introduced his system of binomial nomenclature for the classification of species. Eventually new groups and categories of life were discovered, such as cells and microorganisms, forcing dramatic revisions of the structure of relationships between living organisms. Though currently only known on Earth, life need not be restricted to it, and many scientists speculate in the existence of extraterrestrial life. Artificial life is a computer simulation or human-made reconstruction of any aspect of life, which is often used to examine systems related to natural life. Death is the permanent termination of all biological functions which sustain an organism, and as such, is the end of its life. Extinction is the term describing the dying out of a group or taxon, usually a species. Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of organisms.