lifestyle

American  

[lahyf-stahyl] / ˈlaɪfˌstaɪl /

Or life style,

noun

1. the habits, attitudes, tastes, moral standards, economic level, etc., that together constitute the mode of living of an individual or group.

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adjective

1. pertaining to or catering to a certain lifestyle.

   unhealthy lifestyle choices; lifestyle advertising; a luxury lifestyle hotel.

2. (of a drug) used to treat a medical condition that is not life-threatening or painful.

   lifestyle drugs for baldness.

lifestyle British  

/ ˈlaɪfˌstaɪl /

noun

1. a set of attitudes, habits, or possessions associated with a particular person or group

2. such attitudes, etc, regarded as fashionable or desirable

3. 1. a luxurious semirural manner of living

   2. ( as modifier )

      a lifestyle property

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adjective

1. suggestive of a fashionable or desirable lifestyle

   a lifestyle café

2. (of a drug) designed to treat problems, such as impotence or excess weight, which affect a person's quality of life rather than his or her health

Etymology

Origin of lifestyle

First recorded in 1925–30; life + style

Explanation

Your lifestyle is how you live, and it reflects who you are. You might try to look cool by adopting a rock star lifestyle of partying every night and sleeping all day, but you'd probably get pretty tired. A lifestyle can also reflect your attitude or your personal values. For example, you might have a very conservative lifestyle, which means you don't spend money on anything trivial or unnecessary, and you don't engage in silly activities. A glamorous lifestyle means you indulge in upscale, high-profile pursuits and live luxuriously. If you've got some bad habits, your doctor might encourage you to adopt a healthier lifestyle, and get more exercise and eat more carefully.

Example Sentences

Instead of poking fun at the outrageous Upper East Side lifestyle, the show endorsed it, with no irony.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 19, 2026

It is understood she was not paid for this, although the Duchess does have a food-centric show on Netflix, and her As Ever lifestyle brand includes a food range.

From BBC • Apr. 18, 2026

To better understand the cost of this high-performance lifestyle, the researchers developed a new method to estimate metabolic rates in fish swimming freely in the wild.

From Science Daily • Apr. 18, 2026

Cate Blanchett is set to play Martha Stewart in an upcoming biopic about the lifestyle mogul’s illustrious career, Variety first reported.

From Salon • Apr. 16, 2026

After briefly occupying the cold northern tip of Honshu, Yayoi farmers abandoned that area, presumably because rice farming just could not compete there with the Jomon hunter-gatherer lifestyle.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

Related Words

• behavior