Definition

1. Adjective: Of or pertaining to equipment or methods used to sustain life, especially when normal bodily functions are impaired or have failed.

Usage

• The term "life-support" is used as an adjective to describe medical systems, machines, or procedures that artificially maintain vital bodily functions such as breathing, circulation, or kidney function.
• It is typically used before a noun it modifies (e.g., life-support system, life-support machine).

Examples

• Adjective:
  • The patient was placed on a life-support system after the major surgery.
  • The spacecraft is equipped with a sophisticated life-support module for long-duration missions.
  • Decisions regarding life-support care can be very difficult for families.

Advanced Usage

• "life-support" as a concept: The term can be used more abstractly to describe anything that is essential for maintaining the existence or function of something.
  • Government subsidies are acting as a life-support for the struggling industry.

Variants and Related Words

• Life support (noun phrase): The equipment or treatment that sustains life.
  • The doctors decided to withdraw life support.
• Life-sustaining (adjective): Having the same core meaning as "life-support"; used to describe essential care or systems.

Synonyms

• Vital-support (adjective): Providing essential support for life.
• Sustaining (adjective): Helping to continue or maintain, especially life.

Related Phrases

• On life support: A phrase describing a patient who is being kept alive by such machines.
  • The accident victim remains on life support in the intensive care unit.
• Life-support system: The specific combination of equipment required.
• Withdraw life support: The medical and ethical act of discontinuing such treatment.

Adjective

1. of or pertaining to equipment or methods used to sustain life