life-support
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- 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
- of or pertaining to equipment or methods used to sustain life