life support

noun

: medical equipment, treatments, or medications that temporarily replace or support the function of one or more failing organs in a seriously ill or injured patient and that provide an opportunity for stabilization or recovery

The patient was placed on life support.

A mechanical pump that was invented as a temporary life support for patients with advanced heart failure is emerging as a potential tool to help hearts heal and function for the long term on their own.

—Ron Winslow

The current pediatric and adult life support recommendations suggest an epinephrine administration interval … of 3–5 minutes during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

—Donald H. Shaffner and Clifton W. Callaway

—sometimes hyphenated when used before another noun

life-support equipment

life-support measures

Examples of life support in a Sentence

He was removed from life support.

She was put on life support.

equipment providing life support for astronauts

Recent Examples on the Web

The family of Adriana Smith told Atlanta’s WXIA that the former nurse, who’s been on life support since suffering a malady linked to blood clots in her brain, delivered the child by emergency C-section at 4:41 a.m. Friday at Emory Memorial Hospital. —Brian Niemietz, New York Daily News, 17 June 2025

Webb was placed on life support and died two-and-a-half weeks after the crash, and Norward was in a coma for a month. —Maia Nehme, Charlotte Observer, 17 June 2025

The southern beach towns have been on life support since armed groups, four years ago, began seizing control of its National Road No. 2, which connects the South to Port-au-Prince by road. —Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald, 13 June 2025

The paparazzi and tabloid outlets that dominate the book are now on life support, replaced by everyone’s smartphones and social media accounts posting their own celebrity content. —Jeff Weiss, HollywoodReporter, 12 June 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1974, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for life support

• abort
• airport
• alport
• athwart
• carport
• comport
• consort
• deport
• distort
• escort
• exhort
• extort

Medical Definition

life support

noun

: medical equipment, treatments, or medications used to temporarily replace or support the function of one or more failing organs in a seriously ill or injured patient and that provide an opportunity for stabilization or recovery

Extracorporeal life support … is used to support the circulation of a patient with severe cardiac failure. The physiologic objective is to provide temporary circulatory support to the vital organs and to unload the failing heart as the injured myocardium attempts to recover.

—Massimo Massetti et al., The Annals of Thoracic Surgery

Most of the patients from whom support was withheld or withdrawn had intracranial lesions, usually the result of trauma. A poor prognosis or brain death prompted the withholding or withdrawal of life support in most patients.

—Nicholas G. Smedira et al., The New England Journal of Medicine

—sometimes hyphenated when used before another noun

The principles of medical ethics permit active, direct euthanasia … as well as passive and indirect forms. The latter include withholding or removing life-support measures, administering effective pain controls that often hasten death, and assisting patients in suicide.

—Susan S. Mattingly, The New England Journal of Medicine