Tra từ life - Từ điển Oxford Advanced Learner 8th

life [life lives] BrE [laɪf] NAmE [laɪf] noun (pl. livesBrE [laɪvz] ; NAmE [laɪvz] )

STATE OF LIVING
1. uncountable the ability to breathe, grow, reproduce, etc. which people, animals and plants have before they die and which objects do not have
•life and death
• The body was cold and showed no signs of life.
• My father died last year— I wish I could bring him back to life.
•In spring the countryside bursts into life.
2. uncountable, countable the state of being alive as a human; an individual person's existence
• The floods caused a massive loss of life (= many people were killed).
• He risked his life to save his daughter from the fire.
•Hundreds of lives were threatened when the building collapsed.
•The operation saved her life.
•My grandfather lost his life (= was killed) in the war.
•Several attempts have been made on the President's life (= several people have tried to kill him).

LIVING THINGS
3. uncountable living things
•plant/animal life
•marine/pond life
• Is there intelligent life on other planets?

PERIOD OF TIME
4. countable, uncountable the period between sb's birth and their death; a part of this period
• He's lived here all his life.
• I've lived in England for most of my life.
•to have a long/short life
•He became very weak towards the end of his life.
•Brenda took up tennis late in life.
•He will spend the rest of his life (= until he dies) in a wheelchair.
•There's no such thing as a job for life any longer.
•She is a life member of the club.
•in early/adult life
see also ↑change of life
5. countable (used with an adjective)a period of sb's life when they are in a particular situation or job
• She has been an accountant all her working life.
• He met a lot of interesting people during his life as a student.
•They were very happy throughout their married life.
6. countable the period of time when sth exists or functions
• The International Stock Exchange started life as a London coffee shop.
• They could see that the company had a limited life (= it was going to close).
•In Italy the average life of a government is eleven months.
see also ↑shelf life

PUNISHMENT
7. uncountable the punishment of being sent to prison for life; life ↑imprisonment
•The judge gave him life.
•She is doing life for murder.

EXPERIENCE/ACTIVITIES
8. uncountable the experience and activities that are typical of all people's existences
•the worries of everyday life
• He is young and has little experience of life.
• Commuting is a part of daily life for many people.
•Jill wants to travel and see life for herself.
•We bought a dishwasher to make life easier.
•In London life can be hard.
•In real life (= when she met him) he wasn't how she had imagined him at all.
•Life can be difficult when you move to a new town.
•Life isn't like in the movies, you know.
9. uncountable, countable the activities and experiences that are typical of a particular way of living
•country/city life
• She enjoyed political life.
•family/married life
• How do you find life in Japan?
10. countable a person's experiences during their life; the activities that form a particular part of a person's life
• He has had a good life.
•a hard/an easy life
• My day-to-day life is not very exciting.
•a life of luxury
•Her daily life involved meeting lots of people.
•She lived a quiet life in the countryside.
•Many of these children have led very sheltered lives (= they have not had many different experiences).
•They emigrated to start a new life in Canada.
•He doesn't like to talk about his private life.
•She has a full social life.
•articles about the love lives of the stars
see also ↑sex life

ENERGY/EXCITEMENT
11. uncountable the quality of being active and exciting
Syn: ↑vitality
• This is a great holiday resort that is full of life.

IN ART
12. uncountable a living model or a real object or scene that people draw or paint
• She had lessons in drawing from life.
•a life class (= one in which art students draw a naked man or woman)
see also ↑still life

STORY OF LIFE
13. countable a story of sb's life
Syn: ↑biography
•She wrote a life of Mozart.

IN CHILDREN'S GAMES
14. countable one of a set number of chances before a player is out of a game
•He's lost two lives, so he's only got one left.
more at you can bet your life/your bottom dollar (on sth/(that)…) at ↑bet _v., the breath of life at ↑breath, breathe (new) life into sth at ↑breathe, the change of life at ↑change _n., depart this life at ↑depart, a dog's life at ↑dog _n., end your days/life at ↑end _v., a fact of lifethe facts of life at ↑fact, in fear of your life at ↑fear _n., fight for (your) life at ↑fight _v., within an inch of your life at ↑inch _n., kiss of life at ↑kiss _n., large as lifelarger than life at ↑large, a new lease of life at ↑lease, light of sb's life at ↑light _n., a matter of life and death at ↑matter _n., make sb's life a misery at ↑misery, have nine lives at ↑nine, risk life and limb at ↑risk _v., not be able to do sth to save your life at ↑save _v., a slice of life at ↑slice _n., spring into/to life at ↑spring _v., the staff of life at ↑staff _n., that's the story of my life at ↑story, at my, your, his, etc. time of lifehave the time of your life at ↑time _n., true to life at ↑true _adj., variety is the spice of life at ↑variety, a walk of life at ↑walk _n., a/the/sb's way of life at ↑way _n.
Idioms: ↑bring somebody to life ▪ ↑come to life ▪ ↑for dear life ▪ ↑for the life of you ▪ ↑for your life ▪ ↑full of life ▪ ↑get a life ▪ ↑lay down your life ▪ ↑lead the life of Riley ▪ ↑life after death ▪ ↑life and soul of the party ▪ ↑life is cheap ▪ life of its own ▪ ↑life's too short ▪ ↑make life difficult ▪ ↑man in your life ▪ ↑not on your life ▪ ↑scare the life out of somebody ▪ ↑somebody's life ▪ ↑take somebody's life ▪ ↑take your life ▪ ↑take your life in your hands ▪ ↑that's life ▪ ↑where there's life

Word Origin:
Old English līf, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch lijf, German Leib ‘body’, also to ↑live ¹.

Thesaurus:
life noun
1. U, C
•The body was cold and showed no signs of life.
existence • • survival •
Opp: death
sb/sth's very/continued/day-to-day life/existence/survival
threaten sb/sth's life/existence/survival
fight for your life/survival
2. C, U
•I've lived here all my life.
lifetime • • career • • in sb's day •
in/of sb's life/lifetime/career/day
during sb's life/lifetime/career
a life/lifetime/career of doing sth
3. C
•How do you find life in America?
lifestyle • • way of life • • living • • existence •
(sb's) day-to-day life/living/existence
a comfortable/busy life/lifestyle/existence
have/lead/enjoy a… life/lifestyle/existence
4. U
•We need to inject some new life into this project.
energy • • vitality • • fire • • dynamism • • spark • • gusto • • zest • |BrE vigour • |AmE vigor •
new life/energy/vitality/zest/vigour
be full of life/energy/vitality/fire/dynamism/zest/vigour

Collocations:
The living world
Animals
animals mate/breed/reproduce/feed (on sth)
fish/amphibians swim/spawn (= lay eggs)
birds fly/migrate/nest/sing
insects crawl/fly/bite/sting
insects/bees/locusts swarm
bees collect/gather nectar/pollen
spiders spin/weave a web
snakes/lizards shed their skins
bears/hedgehogs/frogs hibernate
insect larvae grow/develop/pupate
an egg/a chick/a larva hatches
attract/find/choose a mate
produce/release eggs/sperm
lay/fertilize/incubate/hatch eggs
inhabit a forest/a reef/the coast
mark/enter/defend (a) territory
stalk/hunt/capture/catch/kill prey
Plants and fungi
trees/plants grow/bloom/blossom/flower
a seed germinates/sprouts
leaves/buds/roots/shoots appear/develop/form
flower buds swell/open
a fungus grows/spreads/colonizes sth
pollinate/fertilize a flower/plant
produce/release/spread/disperse pollen/seeds/spores
produce/bear fruit
develop/grow/form roots/shoots/leaves
provide/supply/absorb/extract/release nutrients
perform/increase/reduce photosynthesis
Bacteria and viruses
bacteria/microbes/viruses grow/spread/multiply
bacteria/microbes live/thrive in/on sth
bacteria/microbes/viruses evolve/colonize sth/cause disease
bacteria break sth down/convert sth (into sth)
a virus enters/invades sth/the body
a virus mutates/evolves/replicates (itself)
be infected with/contaminated with/exposed to a new strain of a virus/drug-resistant bacteria
contain/carry/harbour (especially US) harbor bacteria/a virus
kill/destroy/eliminate harmful/deadly bacteria

Example Bank:
•He always believed in living life to the full.
•He always had a great love of life.
•He built his whole life around his children.
•He devoted his life to the education of deaf children.
•He ended his life a happy man.
•He gave up his high-flying job and now enjoys a better quality of life.
•He had been leading a double life, married to two women.
•He hopes the development will breathe new life into the community.
•He lost his life in an air crash.
•He met the love of his life at college.
•He never discussed the unhappiness of his past life.
•He never let his work dominate his life.
•He ruined his life through drinking.
•He spent his whole life in Cornwall.
•He was a miner all his working life.
•He'll be haunted by the crash for the rest of his life.
•Her paintings became more obscure towards the end of her life.
•His fame was so sudden that he was unprepared for public life.
•His foolishness almost cost him his life.
•His time in London was his first glimpse of the seamier side of life.
•I had the fright of my life when I saw the snake in my bed.
•I owe my life to the the doctors at the hospital.
•I think I may have been an animal in a previous life.
•I wanted to see something of life before I settled down.
•I've always had a fairly optimistic outlook on life.
•I've known her all my life.
•In later life he took up writing.
•It's nice to see an old man still so full of life.
•Japanese people have a very high life expectancy.
•Learning meditation changed her life.
•No lives were lost in the accident.
•Only his wife had access to his inner life.
•She begged the soldiers to spare her son's life.
•She clung to life for several weeks.
•She did not tolerate press intrusion into her private life.
•She discovered jazz quite late in life.
•She is still rebuilding her life after the accident.
•She leads a busy social life.
•She loved the Spanish way of life and immediately felt at home there.
•She risked her life for the sake of the children.
•She sensed she was entering a new phase in her life.
•She thought marriage should be for life.
•She took her own life.
•She went through life always wanting what she couldn't get.
•She's critically ill, on life support.
•The city only comes to life at night.
•The crash claimed 43 lives.
•The driver showed no signs of life.
•The hotel started life as a prison.
•The pace of life is much gentler on the island.
•The plane crashed with heavy loss of life.
•There has only been one woman in her life.
•There have been three attempts on the president's life.
•These talks are a matter of life and death for the factory.
•They both seem to want the same things out of life.
•They need some new, younger staff to breathe some life into the company.
•They went to Australia to start a new life.
•They were enjoying the high life in the smartest hotels of New York.
•They're living a life of luxury in the Bahamas.
•Throughout her life she was dogged by loneliness.
•Witnesses are living in fear for their life after giving evidence against the gang.
•You're still in the prime of life.
•a child bursting with life
•a drug that will save lives
•a life-support machine
•a real-life drama
•anti-abortionists campaigning for the right to life
•for the first time in her life
•Bad posture is one of the causes of back pain in later life.
•He doesn't like to talk about his private life.
•He has had a hard life.
•He is young and has little experience of life.
•He met a lot of interesting people during his life as a student.
•He said the men had threatened his life.
•He spent his entire adult life in France.
•He will spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair.
•He's lived here all his life.
•How do you find life in America?
•I've lived in England for most of my life.
•In Italy at that time the average life of a government was eleven months.
•In real life he wasn't how she had imagined him at all.
•Life isn't like in the movies, you know.
•Many of these children have led very sheltered lives.
•My father died last year— I wish I could bring him back to life.
•My grandfather lost his life in the Second World War.
•My mother took up tennis late in life.
•She has a full social life.
•She has been an accountant all her working life.
•She led a life of luxury.
•The International Stock Exchange started life as a London coffee shop.
•The body was cold and showed no signs of life.
•The floods caused a massive loss of life.
•The operation saved her life.
•The product has a guaranteed shelf life of 60 days.
•The worries of everyday life can become unbearable for people with this condition.
•There's no such thing as a job for life any longer.
•They emigrated to start a new life in America.
•They were very happy throughout their married life.
•We bought a dishwasher to make life easier.
•We need to inject some new life into this project.
•Yet more species of plant and animal life die out as their very specialized habitat is disturbed.
•You mustn't let anyone know— it's a matter of life and death.
•pond life