meaning of life

English

Noun

meaning of life

1. (philosophy, religion) A hypothetical answer to all of life's ultimate questions; the purpose or raison d'être of human life.
   • 1840 May 22, Thomas Carlyle, “Lecture VI. The Hero as King. Cromwell, Napoleon: Modern Revolutionism.”, in On Heroes, Hero-Worship and The Heroic in History, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1840, →OCLC, page 207:

     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 August, Jack London, chapter VII, in John Barleycorn, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC, page 63:

     I asked myself if this were the meaning of life—to be a work-beast? I knew of no horse in the city of Oakland that worked the hours I worked.

   • 1915, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter LIII, in Of Human Bondage, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, →OCLC, page 274:

     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 (maʕnā 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
• Faroese: meiningin við lívinum
• 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: смисла на животот f (smisla na životot)
• Norwegian: livets mening, meningen med livet
• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: съмыслъ живота m (sŭmyslŭ života)

  Glagolitic: ⱄⱏⰿⱏⰹⱄⰾⱏ ⰶⰻⰲⱁⱅⰰ m (sŭmyslŭ života)

• Old Czech: smysl života m
• Polish: sens życia m
• Portuguese: sentido da vida m
• Russian: смысл жи́зни (ru) m (smysl žízni)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: смисао живота m

  Roman: smisao života m

• Slovak: zmysel života m
• Spanish: sentido de la vida m
• Swedish: livets mening c, meningen med livet c
• Tamil: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: hayatın anlamı (tr), yaşamın anlamı