life span

noun

: the average length of life of a kind of organism or of a material object especially in a particular environment or under specified circumstances

: the duration of existence of an individual

Example Sentences

the average life span of house cats increase the human life span

Recent Examples on the Web The other way is by extending your loan term, which refers to its life span. —

Jim Slavik, Car and Driver, 4 Apr. 2023 Most people work 90,000 hours in their lifetime, which is one-third of the average life span, according to a study from Gettysburg College. —

Stacey Leasca, Travel + Leisure, 7 Feb. 2023 Kindness, compassion and a sense of purpose propel those who thrive across the life span. —

cleveland, 10 Jan. 2023 New Zealand’s critically endangered kākāpō, the world’s heaviest parrot, is flightless and nocturnal, with fragrant moss-green feathers, an odd, whiskery face, up to a 90-year life span—and a gut microbiome made almost entirely of the bacterium Escherichia coli. —

Kate Evans, Scientific American, 12 Dec. 2022 Substantial scientific evidence shows this half-hour of exertion buoys our health, spirits and life span. —

Gretchen Reynolds, Anchorage Daily News, 14 Sep. 2022 What is a monarch butterfly’s life span? —

Shanti Lerner, The Arizona Republic, 29 July 2022 One caveat: The 1,000-cycle life span of its lithium-ion battery is shorter than that of some of our other top picks. —

Dan Diclerico, goodhousekeeping.com, 4 Apr. 2023 But the maximum life span, if one exists, is much harder to estimate. —

Erin Prater, Fortune Well, 31 Mar. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'life span.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1831, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Time Traveler

The first known use of life span was in 1831

See more words from the same year

Cite this Entry

Style

“Life span.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/life%20span. Accessed 29 May. 2023.

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Kids Definition

life span

noun

: the average length of life of a living thing or of the persistence of a material object under specified circumstances or in a particular environment