life-support system

noun

: an artificial or natural system that provides all or some of the items (such as oxygen, food, water, control of temperature and pressure, disposition of carbon dioxide and body wastes) necessary for maintaining life or health

Examples of life-support system in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

SpaceX has yet to publicly detail comprehensive solutions for spacecraft life-support systems, radiation protection during the months-long journey, and the resource utilization technologies necessary for sustaining human presence on Mars. —Luis E. Romero, Forbes, 7 Mar. 2025

Van Cleave stressed the life-support system is associated with a lot of risks. —Jessica Van Egeren, Journal Sentinel, 15 Feb. 2024

This knowledge was crucial for designing life-support systems and protocols for human astronauts. —Scott Travers, Forbes, 11 Jan. 2025

The heating of Earth's climatic life-support system has been caused by our emissions of heat-trapping carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, which reached a record high in 2024. —Tom Yulsman, Discover Magazine, 31 Dec. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1959, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for life-support system

• cryptosystem
• ecosystem
• intersystem
• multisystem
• photosystem
• subsystem

Kids Definition

life-support system

noun

: a system that provides all or some of the items (as oxygen, food, water, proper temperature and air pressure, elimination of carbon dioxide and body wastes) necessary for maintaining life or health

Medical Definition

life-support system

noun

: a system that provides all or some of the items (as oxygen, food, water, and disposition of carbon dioxide and body wastes) necessary for maintaining life or health: as

a

: one used to maintain the health of a person or animal in outer space, underwater, or in a mine

b

: one used to maintain the life of an injured or ill person unable to maintain certain physiological processes without artificial support