meaning of life

meaning of life

English

Noun

meaning of life

1. (religion, philosophy) A hypothetical answer to all of life's ultimate questions; the purpose or raison d'être of human life.
   • 1841, Thomas Carlyle, Lectures on Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History, ch. 6:

     The meaning of life here on earth might be defined as consisting in this: To unfold your self, to work what thing you have the faculty for. It is a necessity for the human being, the first law of our existence.

   • 1913, Jack London, John Barleycorn, ch. 7:

     I asked myself if this were the meaning of life—to be a work-beast?

   • 1915, William Somerset Maugham, Of Human Bondage, ch. 53:

     But he was no nearer to the meaning of life than he had been before. Why the world was there and what men had come into existence for at all was as inexplicable as ever.

Translations

hypothetical answer to life's ultimate questions

Arabic: مَعْنَى اَلْحَيَاة‎ m (maʿnā l-ḥayāh) Chinese: Mandarin: 人生的真諦, 人生的真谛 (rénshēng de zhēndì), 生命的價值, 生命的价值 (shēngmìng de jiàzhí), 生命的真理 (shēngmìng de zhēnlǐ), 生命的意義, 生命的意义 (shēngmìng de yìyì) Czech: smysl života m Danish: meningen med livet c Dutch: zin van het leven m Finnish: elämän tarkoitus French: sens de la vie m Georgian: სიცოცხლის აზრი (sicocxlis azri) German: Sinn des Lebens m Hindi: please add this translation if you can Hungarian: az élet értelme Icelandic: tilgangur lífsins (is) Italian: il senso della vita

Japanese: 人生の意義 (じんせいのいぎ, jinsei-no igi), 人生の意味 (じんせいのいみ, jinsei-no imi) Korean: 인생의 의미 (insaeng-ui uimi) Macedonian: please add this translation if you can Norwegian: livets mening / meningen med livet Portuguese: sentido da vida m Russian: смысл жи́зни (ru) m (smysl žízni) Serbo-Croatian: Roman: smisao života m Slovak: zmysel života m Spanish: sentido de la vida m Swedish: meningen med livet c, livets mening c Tamil: please add this translation if you can Turkish: yaşamın anlamı, hayatın anlamı