life science

IPA/ˈlaɪf saɪəns/
IPA/ˈlaɪf saɪəns/

life science — noun

1. the study of living things, including how plants, animals, and people are built

1.nounB2
Definition

the study of living things, including how plants, animals, and people are built and how they grow and survive.

Example

Many universities offer full scholarships to students who choose life science as their major.

life science (singular) names the field before another noun

Salma switched from law to the life sciences after a summer at a wildlife clinic.

the life sciences (plural) for the whole group of fields

Common collocations
  • study life science
  • life science research
  • a life science degree
  • the life sciences industry
Synonyms
  • biological sciences

    near-synonym; often interchangeable but sounds slightly more formal and technical

  • bioscience

    more modern term, common in industry, biotech, and university department names

Antonyms
  • physical sciences

    study non-living matter and energy, such as physics, chemistry, and geology

Grammar Patterns

the + life sciences

Usage Note

Often appears in the plural — 'the life sciences' — when naming the whole group of related fields; the singular form is most common directly before another noun, as in 'a life science degree' or 'life science research'.

Common Mistakes

Physics is one of the life sciences.
Physics is one of the physical sciences.
life sciences study living things, while physics deals with energy and matter, so it counts as a physical science.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All these terms sit close to 'life science', but their scope differs. 'Life science' (often 'the life sciences') is the broad group of fields that study living things — biology, medicine, ecology, and more. 'Biology' is narrower: it is one field inside the life sciences, focused on living organisms themselves. 'Natural science' is wider still, covering both the life sciences and the physical sciences. 'Physical science' is the contrasting half — it studies non-living matter and energy, not organisms. 'Bioscience' overlaps almost exactly with 'life science' but feels more modern and is common in industry and university department names. Use 'life science' for the whole living-things group; use 'biology' when you mean the single core subject. For example, a hospital lab is a life science workplace, while a class on cells is a biology class.

biology ↗natural sciencephysical sciencebioscience

Common collocations

Nouns

  • life science research
  • life science degree
  • life science companies
  • life science industry

Phrases

  • a career in the life sciences
  • advances in the life sciences

Prepositions

  • in life science
  • in the life sciences

Etymology

Old EnglishLatinFrenchEnglish

Life science is a modern compound that joins two much older words. 'Life' comes from Old English 'līf', meaning the state of being alive. 'Science' comes from Latin 'scientia', meaning knowledge, which reached English through Old French. The two were put together in the 1800s, when researchers began grouping the studies of living things — biology, medicine, botany — under one umbrella term, set apart from the physical sciences.

First known use

1941

1941, in the meaning defined above