life cycle

noun

1. Biology. the continuous sequence of changes undergone by an organism from one primary form, as a gamete, to the development of the same form again.
2. a series of stages, as childhood and middle age, that characterize the course of existence of an individual, group, or culture.
3. any similar series of stages:

   the life cycle of a manufactured product.

life cycle

noun

1. the series of changes occurring in an animal or plant between one development stage and the identical stage in the next generation

life cycle

1. The series of changes in the growth and development of an organism from its beginning as an independent life form to its mature state in which offspring are produced. In simple organisms, such as bacteria, the life cycle begins when an organism is produced by fission and ends when that organism in turn divides into two new ones. In organisms that reproduce sexually, the life cycle may be thought of as beginning with the fusion of reproductive cells to form a new organism. The cycle ends when that organism produces its own reproductive cells, which then begin the cycle again by undergoing fusion with other reproductive cells. The life cycles of plants, algae, and many protists often involve an alternation between a generation of organisms that reproduces sexually and another that reproduces asexually.
2. See more at alternation of generations

Word History and Origins

Origin of life cycle¹

First recorded in 1870–75

Example Sentences

When compared across their entire life cycles, electric vehicles create 60 to 80 percent fewer greenhouse emissions than combustion-powered cars.

From Popular-Science

So given that we’ve already paid the upfront cost of this fossil fuel infrastructure, the economics don’t quite line up yet where we’re going to facilitate a rapid phase out of fossil fuel plants prior to the end of their life cycle.

From Popular-Science

With this in mind, we built Alula to support people, families, and friends through the entire life cycle of cancer, from diagnosis and treatment to recovery and bereavement.

From Fortune

Positioned now on both sides of an advertising transaction, we were ready to observe the life cycle of an ad click from end to end.

From MIT Technology Review

So do Jenny Freestone’s elegant depictions of aquatic creatures, in which the life cycle of eggs, insects and amphibians is revealed as something rich and strange.

From Washington Post

“We have a detailed audit system that tracks the life cycle of an evidentiary item for record-keeping purposes,” she said.

From The Daily Beast

Researchers have found that this protein is important in the life cycle of many types of cells, not only those in the eye.

From The Daily Beast

I felt there were a lot of ways that I could spend the stub end of my life cycle that were more productive.

From The Daily Beast

Early in a product's life cycle, you see enormous leaps in the quality of each successive generation.

From The Daily Beast

Stars and galaxies go through the life cycle of birth, growth, death, and replicate themselves.

From The Daily Beast

True annuals are those plants which complete their entire life-cycle in one season.

From Project Gutenberg

This division obtains on the involutionary side of the great life-cycle.

From Project Gutenberg

There is some doubt as to the different stages in the life-cycle of this species.

From Project Gutenberg

The introductory pages give the life cycle of a plant from seed to seed and many curious facts concerning curious plants.

From Project Gutenberg

Has the duration and complexity of the life-cycle expanded or contracted since organisms first appeared on the earth?

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• biological clock