life span

noun

1. the longest period over which the life of any organism or species may extend, according to the available biological knowledge concerning it.
2. the longevity of an individual.

life span

noun

1. the period of time during which a human being, animal, machine, etc, may be expected to live or function under normal conditions

Word History and Origins

Origin of life span¹

First recorded in 1915–20

Example Sentences

It charges from ambient light and the cell should last roughly seven years, which Samsung claims is the typical life span of a TV.

From Popular-Science

LinkedIn Stories have a limited life span, making them ideal for communicating less refined, off-the-cuff material right in real-time.

From Search Engine Watch

If you get one that’s waterproof, you can use it pretty much anywhere, and you won’t have to worry about blades with severely limited life spans.

From Popular-Science

The woman, Sherber noted, had not purchased new cosmetics in a while and seemed to think that because she was not using her eye makeup often that it “extended the life span of the product.”

From Washington Post

It turns out that coveting—and, often, buying—the gear you think you need rather than the gear you actually need is pretty common, even more so when it comes to expensive hard goods with long life spans, like skis and bikes.

From Outside Online

MSNBC has been a liberal pushback channel only for five years or so, or less than half the life span of the 24-7 cycle.

From The Daily Beast

Even the average man will shorten his life span like a Cro-Magnon.

From The Daily Beast

In that sense, it appears Allingham not only defied his statistical life span, but longevity science as well.

From The Daily Beast

So, like Ailes, I roughly calculated my life span and number of days I might have left, considering family history.

From The Daily Beast

Since these people have such a short life span our descendants will live hundreds of years longer than theirs.

From Project Gutenberg

I can spend a fortune every year for a long life-span, and still leave loot a-plenty behind my taking off.

From Project Gutenberg

Somehow, the plague incubation period had been shortened to fit their life span; the disease was nothing if not adaptive.

From Project Gutenberg

"If all time is totally present, then you must exist simultaneously at every moment along your individual life span," Allan said.

From Project Gutenberg

Now, of course, shortened working hours and medical advances have equalized the life-span.

From Project Gutenberg