What does life mean?
Word: Life
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Life means the state of being alive, or the time a person, animal or plant is alive. It also means energy and cheerfulness, as in a party full of life.
Synonyms: existence, lifetime, energy
How do you spell life?
Syllables: life
Tricky part: The silent e at the end makes the i say its name. In the plural, f changes to v: lives, not lifes.
Watch out for: lyfe, lif, lifes
Memory tip: Life and wife both end in fe, and both swap it for ves in the plural: lives, wives.
Idioms and Phrases
- larger than life: more exciting or impressive than ordinary people or things. Example: "Our new games teacher is larger than life and fills the field with laughter."
- the life and soul of the party: the most cheerful, fun person at a gathering. Example: "Aunt Leela is always the life and soul of the party at family weddings."
Life in a sentence
Example 1: Life in a hill town is quieter than life in a big city.
Example 2: Grandma has lived in the same hill town all her life.
Example 3: Gandhiji spent his whole life working for freedom and fairness.
Fun Fact
Biology is literally the study of life: the bio part comes from Greek bios, meaning life.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Makeup
Choose the correctly spelt compound word:
a) lifetyme
b) lifespen
c) lifebaot
d) lifeguard
Show answer
d) lifeguard. Lifeguard joins life and guard with nothing changed; the others should read lifespan, lifeboat and lifetime.
Word Connection
Choose the word closest in meaning to life as used in the sentence:
The street play brought new life to the sleepy village fair.
a) silence
b) liveliness
c) boredom
d) stillness
Show answer
b) liveliness. Bringing life to a fair means filling it with energy, so liveliness fits; stillness, boredom and silence say the opposite.
Spell-o-Spell
Only one word in the list is spelt correctly. Choose the meaning of that word.
1. life 2. hapiness 3. freindship 4. nachure
a) the state of being alive
b) a close bond between two people who like each other
c) the feeling of being glad and content
d) plants, animals and the world not made by people
Show answer
a) the state of being alive. Happiness doubles its p, nature is spelt with tu, not ch, and friendship puts i before e: life is the only correct spelling.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. A lifelong friend is someone you have known ____.
a) for a few days only
b) only on holidays
c) since you were small
d) only at your school
Show answer
c) since you were small
2. When a sleepy town 'comes to life' in the evening, it ____.
a) is shut for the season
b) grows dark and completely quiet
c) loses every one of its visitors
d) fills with people and noise
Show answer
d) fills with people and noise
