life-support system

noun

: an artificial or natural system that provides all or some of the items (such as oxygen, food, water, control of temperature and pressure, disposition of carbon dioxide and body wastes) necessary for maintaining life or health

Examples of life-support system in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

While flying inside the Orion capsule, the astronauts are expected to conduct tests of the spacecraft’s docking capabilities and life-support systems while in orbit both around Earth and the moon. —Denise Chow, NBC news, 17 Jan. 2026

By establishing a power grid on the moon, agencies can support life-support systems, laboratories, and resource-extraction activities that are constrained by intermittent power sources. —Aman Tripathi, Interesting Engineering, 14 Jan. 2026

The four astronauts will lift off from Nasa’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and spend the first two days orbiting the Earth, testing their life-support systems. —The Week, TheWeek, 7 Jan. 2026

Flying aboard the Orion spacecraft atop the Space Launch System (SLS) megarocket, Artemis 2 will test life-support systems, navigation and communications in deep space ahead of future lunar landings. —Samantha Mathewson, Space.com, 1 Jan. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1959, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for life-support system

• cryptosystem
• ecosystem
• intersystem
• multisystem
• photosystem
• subsystem

Kids Definition

life-support system

noun

: a system that provides all or some of the items (as oxygen, food, water, proper temperature and air pressure, elimination of carbon dioxide and body wastes) necessary for maintaining life or health

Medical Definition

life-support system

noun

: a system that provides all or some of the items (as oxygen, food, water, and disposition of carbon dioxide and body wastes) necessary for maintaining life or health: as

a

: one used to maintain the health of a person or animal in outer space, underwater, or in a mine

b

: one used to maintain the life of an injured or ill person unable to maintain certain physiological processes without artificial support