life-sustaining

IPA/lˈaɪfsəstˈeɪnɪŋ/
IPA/lˈaɪfsəstˈeɪnɪŋ/

life-sustaining — adjective

1. needed to keep a person, animal, or plant alive — used especially for food, wate

1.adjectiveB2
Definition

needed to keep a person, animal, or plant alive — used especially for food, water, air, or medical care that supports continued existence.

Example

The village well provided the only life-sustaining water for miles around.

collocation: life-sustaining water / food / air

Doctors debated whether to stop life-sustaining treatment for Mrs. Okonkwo.

collocation: life-sustaining treatment / care

Common collocations
  • life-sustaining treatment
  • life-sustaining care
  • life-sustaining support
  • life-sustaining resources
  • life-sustaining water
  • life-sustaining food
  • life-sustaining oxygen
Synonyms
  • vital

    broader — can describe any extremely important thing, not only biological survival

  • essential

    focuses on necessity rather than the specific idea of keeping alive

  • life-supporting

    near-synonym; more common in medical contexts for machines or equipment

Antonyms
  • life-threatening

    describes something that endangers life rather than supporting it

  • fatal

    describes something that causes death, the opposite of sustaining life

Usage Note

Typically used before a noun (attributive position) — e.g., life-sustaining treatment, life-sustaining resources. Rarely appears after a linking verb.

Common Mistakes

Water is life-sustaining to humans.
Water is life-sustaining for humans.
The preposition for, not to, follows life-sustaining when stating who or what benefits.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

Vital, essential, and life-supporting all relate to necessity, but life-sustaining focuses specifically on keeping a living being alive. Vital is the broadest — a vital meeting is not life-sustaining. Essential can describe anything indispensable, from a tool to a nutrient. Life-supporting is the closest synonym but is more common in medical settings (e.g., life-supporting equipment). Life-sustaining covers both medical care and basic resources like food, water, and air. Example: 'Clean water is life-sustaining for the whole village,' while 'A good education is vital for their future' would not use life-sustaining.

vital ↗essential ↗life-supporting

Common collocations

Nouns

Prepositions

  • life-sustaining for

Etymology

Old EnglishLatinEnglish

A compound adjective formed in English from 'life' (from Old English līf, meaning 'existence, living') and 'sustaining' (from Latin sustinēre, 'to hold up, support, endure'). The two parts came together in the 1800s to describe anything that keeps a living being alive.