Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A lifetime.
- noun The average or maximum length of time an organism, material, or object can be expected to survive or last.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The length of
time for which anorganism lives . - noun by extension The length of time for which something exists or is
current orvalid .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the period during which something is functional (as between birth and death)
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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They die within a day; their lifespan is accelerated because time works on them differently, just as time works differently on a Galapagos tortoise and a Rattus rattus.
BLANKENSHIP & DAWES IN: CHRONO-CONUNDRUM! • by Jens Rushing 2008
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The gun and bullets are both my capacity to create something of merit and the subject matter, and my lifespan is the time in which I can go around shooting things.
Archive 2003-02-01 Dean Francis Alfar 2003
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You mean the same UK where the lifespan is 79.3 years rather than 78 years for the US?
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As it is, our reproductive lifespan is confined into the time when we should be setting up a stable environment for a family.
Writer Unboxed » Blog Archive » Supernatural characters in fantasy 2009
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"We have a current industrial system where nobody knows what's in our materials, and there's no plan for where they go with those chemicals when their lifespan is over."
The Media Consortium: Weekly Mulch: White House Relents on Solar Panels; Why Congressional Inaction Hasn't Stopped Green Building The Media Consortium 2010
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In other words, the energy impact of building and driving a car during its lifespan is less than that required to keep a dog alive during its lifespan.
Tom McIntyre Explains His Picks for our 2009 Hunting and Fishing Heroes and Villians Face-Off 2009
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"We have a current industrial system where nobody knows what's in our materials, and there's no plan for where they go with those chemicals when their lifespan is over."
The Media Consortium: Weekly Mulch: White House Relents on Solar Panels; Why Congressional Inaction Hasn't Stopped Green Building The Media Consortium 2010
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Average lifespan is not a meaningful indicator of health care.
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So if researchers want to achieve big gains in lifespan and healthspan they have to go after the aging process itself.
Medical Paradigm, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty 2009
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Overall, these snow complainers need to be reminded of the fact that their lifespan is finite, and as such, there will be a time in a few short years, when they're going to be dead.
Archive 2009-02-01 Gordon McCabe 2009
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