life form
127
2.8
- noun
- /laɪf fɔrm/
- We are a carbon based life-form.
- other life forms
- many life forms
- human life forms
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Watch on YouTubeYou know, it's like humans are amazing life forms, incredible life forms.
- You know, it's like humans are amazing life forms, incredible life forms.
- But we don't have silicon based life forms with us tonight.
- That's why carbon based life forms are able to exist and do so much.
- It's the oldest mammalian derived life form that we know of.
- So I believe there are other life forms that we have yet to detect.
- Or you may look for life forms and species to learn from and respect.
- Well, so we're not likely the only life forms in the universe.
- So once you say that, it rules out all other life forms that would have an intelligence.
- We know on this planet only about carbon based life forms.
- Proteins are the building block of all life forms we know, and we'd like to know how they fold.
- I've been taken over by a foreign life form.
- But is it possible that the entities we meet are actual alien life forms?
- We are of all living life forms have evolved to to not want to die.
Examples
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It's unclear why exactly the life forms that survived the extinction did.
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Ten years ago, few foreign visitors knew anything about the abundant life-forms on and around these beaches.
Academic text (2006) -
You can do the same thing with any life form on the planet.
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All those life forms got their energy from the sun.
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Or you may look for life forms and species to learn from and respect.
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You know, it's like humans are amazing life forms, incredible life forms.
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So I believe there are other life forms that we have yet to detect.
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Others said that they enjoyed learning about the variety of life forms living in the creek.
Academic text (1994) -
And how tragic would it be that our first encounter with an alien life form would be to kill it?
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Scientists are searching for new life forms in the ocean's depths.
Synonyms
∞
1.3
A living being such as an animal, not a plant or thing
∞
3.2
A living creature that can act or think on its own
229
3.5
A living thing like an animal or plant made of cells
63
1.0
A plant, animal, or small creature that grows and needs food and water
5
3.7
A living thing like an animal, plant, or tiny creature
How Complex
∞
1.0
∞
1.0
127
2.8
- Specialized
3
4.3
- Specialized
20
5.1
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a living thing' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'life' (living phenomenon) with 'form' (type or kind) — essentially 'a form/type of life'. This straightforward noun–noun compounding is cross-linguistically common and follows predictable English composition patterns, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents should understand it.
Etymology
Life form puts life and form together to mean a kind or type of living thing; imagine scientists finding strange creatures and calling each a new life form, so the phrase means 'a living thing'.