Definition

1. Noun:
   • Medical equipment that assists or replaces vital bodily functions: A system of medical devices and technologies designed to sustain a patient's life when their own organs cannot function adequately on their own.
   • Equipment that makes life possible in hostile environments: A system that provides necessary environmental conditions, such as breathable air, water, and temperature control, to sustain life in an otherwise uninhabitable setting, such as space or underwater.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • The critically ill patient was connected to a life-support system.
  • The spacecraft's life-support system recycles air and water for the crew.

Advanced Usage

• "to be on a life-support system": To be dependent on medical machinery to stay alive.
  • After the accident, he was on a life-support system for two weeks.
• "to rely on a life-support system": To depend on environmental equipment for survival.
  • During the spacewalk, the astronaut relied entirely on the suit's life-support system.

Variants and Related Words

• Life support (noun, often used as a modifier): The general concept or the act of providing such support.
  • The hospital has a dedicated life support unit.
• Life-sustaining (adjective): Describing treatment or equipment that maintains life.
  • The family made the difficult decision to withdraw life-sustaining treatment.

Synonyms

• Medical context: Artificial life support, life-sustaining treatment, ventilator support (for specific functions).
• Environmental context: Environmental control and life support system (ECLSS), life-preserving equipment.

Related Phrases

• To withdraw life support: To discontinue the use of life-sustaining medical equipment.
  • The ethics committee discussed the protocol for when to withdraw life support.
• Life-support module: A specific unit or component of a larger system that provides life support.
  • The damaged life-support module had to be repaired immediately.

Noun

1. medical equipment that assists or replaces important bodily functions and so enables a patient to live who otherwise might not survive
   • the patient is on life support
2. equipment that makes life possible in otherwise deadly environmental conditions
   • the astronauts relied on their life-support systems