| Life 1. (n.) The state of being which begins with generation, birth, or germination, and ends with death; also, the time during which this state continues; that state of an animal or plant in which all or any of its organs are capable of performing all or any of their functions; -- used of all animal and vegetable organisms. 2. (n.) The lifespan of a human. 3. (n.) The potential principle, or force, by which the organs of animals and plants are started and continued in the performance of their several and cooperative functions; the vital force, whether regarded as physical or spiritual. 4. (n.) Figuratively: The potential or animating principle, also, the period of duration, of anything that is conceived of as resembling a natural organism in structure or functions; as, the life of a state, a machine, or a book; authority is the life of government. 5. (n.) A certain way or manner of living with respect to conditions, circumstances, character, conduct, occupation, etc.; hence, human affairs; also, lives, considered collectively, as a distinct class or type; as, low life; a good or evil life; the life of Indians, or of miners. 6. (n.) Animation; spirit; vivacity; vigor; energy. 7. (n.) That which imparts or excites spirit or vigor; that upon which enjoyment or success depends; as, he was the life of the company, or of the enterprise. 8. (n.) The living or actual form, person, thing, or state; as, a picture or a description from the life. 9. (n.) A person; a living being, usually a human being; as, many lives were sacrificed. 10. (n.) The system of animal nature; animals in general, or considered collectively. 11. (n.) An essential constituent of life, esp. the blood. 12. (n.) A history of the acts and events of a life; a biography; as, Johnson wrote the life of Milton. 13. (n.) Enjoyment in the right use of the powers; especially, a spiritual existence; happiness in the favor of God; heavenly felicity. 14. (n.) Something dear to one as one's existence; a darling; -- used as a term of endearment. Thesaurus Entries Adamite, Clio, Muse of history, activator, activity, adventures, affairs, age, alacrity, an existence, animal spirits, animation, animator, annals, anxiety, anxiousness, appetite, ardor, arouser, autobiography, avidity, avidness, being, biographical sketch, biography, body, bounce, breathless impatience, breeziness, brio, briskness, bubbliness, capersomeness, case history, cat, chap, character, cheerful readiness, chronicle, chronicles, chronology, circumstances, coltishness, compulsion, concerns, condition of things, conditions, confessions, creature, critter, curriculum vitae, customer, dash, dazzle, dealings, diary, doings, duck, duration, eagerness, earthling, ebullience, effervescence, elan, elan vital, elasticity, energizer, energy, ens, entelechy, enthusiasm, entity, esprit, esse, essence, existence, experiences, exuberance, fellow, fixation, flair, flavor, fortunes, forwardness, freshness, friskiness, frolicsomeness, gaiety, gamesomeness, gayness, generation, get-up-and-go, glow, goings-on, groundling, gust, gusto, guy, hagiography, hagiology, hand, head, heartiness, historiography, history, homo, human, human being, human dynamo, impatience, impetuosity, impetus, individual, joie de vivre, joker, journal, keen desire, keenness, legend, life and letters, life story, lifeblood, lifetime, liveliness, living, living soul, lustiness, man, march of events, martyrology, materiality, matters, memoir, memoirs, memorabilia, memorial, memorials, mettle, monad, mortal, motivating force, motive power, moving spirit, moxie, necrology, nose, obituary, object, obsession, occurrence, one, oomph, organism, party, passion, pep, peppiness, period of existence, perkiness, person, persona, personage, personality, pertness, photobiography, piss and vinegar, pizzazz, playfulness, preoccupation, presence, proceedings, profile, promptness, pungency, quickness, readiness, record, relations, resilience, restorative, resume, robustness, rollicksomeness, rompishness, run of things, sentience, single, skittishness, somebody, someone, something, soul, spark of life, spark plug, sparkle, spirit, spiritedness, spirits, sportiveness, sprightliness, spring, state of affairs, stimulant, stimulator, stimulus, story, subsistence, substantiality, survival, sustenance, tellurian, terran, the times, the world, theory of history, thing, time, tonic, unit, verve, viability, vigor, vim, vital spark, vitality, vivaciousness, vivacity, warmth, way of life, what happens, worldling, zest, zestfulness, zing, zip |