different between still vs life

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /st?l/
• Rhymes: -?l

Etymology 1

From Middle English stille (“motionless, stationary”), from Old English stille (“still, quiet, calm; without motion, at rest, not moving from a place, not disturbed; moving little or gently; silent; not loud; secret; unchanging, undisturbed, stable, fixed; not vehement, gentle”), from Proto-West Germanic *still? (“quiet, still”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)telH- (“to be silent; to be still”). Cognate with Scots stil (“still”), Saterland Frisian stil (“motionless, calm, quiet”), West Frisian stil (“quiet, still”), Dutch stil (“quiet, silent, still”), Low German still (“quiet, still”), German still (“still, quiet, tranquil, silent”), Swedish stilla (“quiet, silent, peaceful”), Icelandic stilltur (“set, quiet, calm, still”). Related to stall.

(noun: Falkland Islander): Military slang, short for still a Benny, since the military had been instructed not to refer to the islanders by the derogatory term Benny (which see).

Alternative forms

• stil
• stille, styll, stylle (obsolete)

Adjective

still (comparative stiller or more still, superlative stillest or most still)

1. Not moving; calm.

2. Not effervescing; not sparkling.

3. Uttering no sound; silent.
   • c. 1711, Joseph Addison, How are thy Servants blest, O Lord!

     The sea that roared at thy command, / At thy command was still.

4. (not comparable) Having the same stated quality continuously from a past time
5. Comparatively quiet or silent; soft; gentle; low.
6. (obsolete) Constant; continual.

Synonyms

• (not moving): fixed, stationary, unmoving, static, inert, stagnant; see also Thesaurus:stationary or Thesaurus:immobile
• (not effervescing): flat, uneffervescent; see also Thesaurus:noneffervescent
• (uttering no sound): noiseless, soundless; see also Thesaurus:silent
• (having the same stated quality):
• (comparatively quiet): hushed, tranquil; see also Thesaurus:quiet
• (constant, continual): incessant, ongoing, unremitting; see also Thesaurus:continuous

Derived terms

• still life
• stillness
• unstill

Related terms

• be still my heart
• be still my beating heart
• still waters run deep

Translations

Adverb

still (not comparable)

1. Without motion.

2. (aspect) Up to a time, as in the preceding time.

3. (degree) To an even greater degree. Used to modify comparative adjectives or adverbs.

   ("still" and "taller" can easily swap places here)
4. (conjunctive) Nevertheless.
   • 1817, Thomas Moore, Lalla-Rookh

     As sunshine, broken in the rill, / Though turned astray, is sunshine still.
5. (archaic, poetic) Always; invariably; constantly; continuously.
   • The desire of fame betrays an ambitious man into indecencies that lessen his reputation; he is still afraid lest any of his actions should be thrown away in private.

   • 1661, Robert Boyle, Unsucceeding Experiments

     Chemists would be rich if they could still do in great quantities what they have sometimes done in little.

6. (extensive) Even, yet.

Synonyms

• (without motion): akinetically, motionlessly, stock still, stockishly
• (up to a time): yet
• (to an even greater degree): yet, even
• (nevertheless): nonetheless, though, yet; see also Thesaurus:nevertheless
• (always): consistently, invariably, uniformly; See also Thesaurus:uniformly
• (even, yet):

Translations

Noun

still (plural stills)

1. A period of calm or silence.

2. (photography) A photograph, as opposed to movie footage.
3. (slang) A resident of the Falkland Islands.
4. A steep hill or ascent.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of W. Browne to this entry?)

Synonyms

• (period of calm): lull, rest, respite; quiet, tranquility
• (resident of the Falkland Islands): Benny, Falklander, Kelper

Translations

Etymology 2

Via Middle English [Term?], ultimately from Latin stilla.

Noun

still (plural stills)

1. A device for distilling liquids.
2. (catering) A large water boiler used to make tea and coffee.
3. (catering) The area in a restaurant used to make tea and coffee, separate from the main kitchen.
4. A building where liquors are distilled; a distillery.

Translations

See also

• pot still

Etymology 3

From Old English stillan.

Verb

still (third-person singular simple present stills, present participle stilling, simple past and past participle stilled)

1. To calm down, to quiet.

Synonyms

• becalm, lull, quell; see also Thesaurus:pacify

Translations

Etymology 4

Aphetic form of distil, or from Latin stillare.

Verb

still (third-person singular simple present stills, present participle stilling, simple past and past participle stilled)

1. (obsolete) To trickle, drip.
2. To cause to fall by drops.
3. To expel spirit from by heat, or to evaporate and condense in a refrigeratory; to distill.

Translations

Anagrams

• Tills, lilts, tills

German

Etymology

From Middle High German [Term?], from Old High German stilli.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?t?l/

Adjective

still (comparative stiller, superlative am stillsten)

1. quiet, silent

Declension

Adverb

still

1. quietly, silently

Further reading

• “still” in Duden online

Hunsrik

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?til/

Adjective

still

1. quiet, silent

Further reading

• Online Hunsrik Dictionary

Norwegian Bokmål

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /st?l/
• Rhymes: -?l

Verb

still

1. imperative of stille

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

Verb

still

1. imperative of stilla

Etymology 2

Adjective

still (masculine and feminine still, neuter stilt, definite singular and plural stille, comparative stillare, indefinite superlative stillast, definite superlative stillaste)

1. Alternative form of stille

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /es?til/, [es?t?il]

Noun

still m (plural stills)

1. (photography) still

English

Alternative forms

• lyfe (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English lif, lyf, from Old English l?f (“life, existence; life-time”), from Proto-West Germanic *l?b, from Proto-Germanic *l?b? (“life, body”), from *l?ban? (“to remain, stay, be left”), from Proto-Indo-European *leyp-, *lip- (“to stick, glue”). Cognate with Scots life, leif (“life”), North Frisian liff (“life, limb, person, livelihood”), West Frisian liif (“belly, abdomen”), Dutch lijf (“body”), Low German lif (“body; life, life-force; waist”), German Leib (“body; womb”) and Leben (“life”), Danish, Norwegian and Swedish liv (“life; waist”), Icelandic líf (“life”). Related to belive.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /la?f/, enPR: l?f
• Hyphenation: life
• Rhymes: -a?f

Noun

life (usually uncountable, plural lives)

1. (uncountable) The state of organisms preceding their death, characterized by biological processes such as metabolism and reproduction and distinguishing them from inanimate objects; the state of being alive and living.
   1. (biology) The status possessed by any of a number of entities, including animals, plants, fungi, bacteria, and sometimes viruses, which have the properties of replication and metabolism.
2. The animating principle or force that keeps an inorganic thing or concept metaphorically alive (dynamic, relevant, etc) and makes it a "living document", "living constitution", etc.
   • 1881, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., The Common Law

     The life of the law has not been logic; it has been experience.

3. Lifeforms, generally or collectively.

   It's life, but not as we know it.   She discovered plant life on the planet.   The rover discovered signs of life on the alien world.

4. (countable) A living individual; the fact of a particular individual being alive. (Chiefly when indicating individuals were lost (died) or saved.)
5. Existence.

   Man's life on this planet has been marked by continual conflict.   the eternal life of the soul

   • 1918, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Land That Time Forgot, Chapter VI:

     " […] I realize as never before how cheap and valueless a thing is life. Life seems a joke, a cruel, grim joke. You are a laughable incident or a terrifying one as you happen to be less powerful or more powerful than some other form of life which crosses your path; but as a rule you are of no moment whatsoever to anything but yourself. You are a comic little figure, hopping from the cradle to the grave. Yes, that is our trouble—we take ourselves too seriously; but Caprona should be a sure cure for that." She paused and laughed.

   • 1994, Violet Quill, Robert Ferro

     Most things in life, including life itself, seemed to have articulated sections, discrete and separate and straightforward.

   1. A worthwhile existence.

   2. A particular aspect of existence.

      He struggled to balance his family life, social life and work life.   sex life, political life

   3. (informal) Social life.

      • It is never possible to settle down to the ordinary routine of life at sea until the screw begins to revolve. There is an hour or two, after the passengers have embarked, which is disquieting and fussy.

   4. Something which is inherently part of a person's existence, such as job, family, a loved one, etc.

      She's my love, my life.   Running the bakery is her life.

6. A period of time during which something has existence.
   1. The period during which one (a person, an animal, a plant; a civilization, species; a star; etc) is alive.

      • “My Continental prominence is improving,” I commented dryly. ¶ Von Lindowe cut at a furze bush with his silver-mounted rattan. ¶ “Quite so,” he said as dryly, his hand at his mustache. “I may say if your intentions were known your life would not be worth a curse.”

      • 1916, Ezra Meeker, The Busy Life of Eighty-Five Years of Ezra Meeker
   2. The span of time during which an object operates.
      • 2016, Christine Barbour, Gerald C. Wright, Keeping the Republic (?ISBN):

        Even if the bill's life is brief, the member who introduced it can still campaign as its champion.

   3. The period of time during which an object is recognizable.

   4. A particular phase or period of existence.
      • 2011, Ehud Lamm, Ron Unger, Biological Computation (?ISBN), page 90

        This would require that reproductive cells do not exist early on but rather are produced during the organism's adult life from the gemules sent from the various organs.

   5. A period extending from a when a (positive or negative) office, punishment, etc is conferred on someone until that person dies (or, sometimes, reaches retirement age).
      • 2001, Cynthia L. Cates, Wayne V. McIntosh, Law and the Web of Society (?ISBN), page 73:

        Typically, an appointed judge is appointed for life.

      • 2013, Mahendra P. Singh, German Administrative Law (?ISBN), page 108:

        As a general rule the judges of the administrative courts are appointed for life, i.e., they continue in their office till the completion of sixty-eight years in the Federal Administrative Court[.]

      1. (colloquial) A life sentence; a period of imprisonment that lasts until the convict's death (or, sometimes, parole).
7. Animation; spirit; vivacity.
   • 1711, Henry Felton, Dissertation on Reading the Classics

     No notion of life and fire in fancy and in words.

   • 1807, William Wordsworth, To A Highland Girl

     That gives thy gestures grace and life.

   1. The most lively component or participant.
      • 1970, Mathuram Bhoothalingam, The finger on the lute: the story of Mahakavi Subramania Bharati, National Council of Educational Research and Training, p.87:

        "Don't I know that it is you who is the life of this house. Two delightful children!"

      • 1998, Monica F. Cohen, Professional domesticity in the Victorian novel: Women, work and home, Cambridge University Press, page 32:

        And he is the life of the party at the Musgroves for precisely this reason: the navy has made him into a great storyteller.

8. A biography.
   • 1741, Conyers Middleton, Life of Cicero

     Writers of particular lives […] are apt to be prejudiced in favour of their subject.

9. Nature, reality, and the forms that exist in it.
   • 2010, Brad Steiger, Real Monsters, Gruesome Critters, and Beasts from the Darkside (?ISBN):

     The experts also agree that the bushmen only painted from life. This belief is borne out by the other Gorozamzi Hills cave paintings, which represent elephants, hippos, deer, and giraffe.

10. An opportunity for existence.
    • 2012, Cindy Champnella, The 12 Gifts of Life (?ISBN):

      The photo book represented my promise to her—a new life—and she desperately clung to that promise.

    1. (video games) One of the player's chances to play, lost when the player's character dies or when certain mistakes are made.
       • 1988, David Powell, Rygar (video game review) in Your Sinclair issue 25

         Spend the time killing things and there's a bonus for each hit - but only for fatalities notched up since the start of your current life.

    2. (baseball, softball, cricket) A chance for the batter (or batting team) to bat again, given as a result of an misplay by a member of the fielding team. [from the 1860s through at least the 1930s]
       • 1915 June 24, Philadelphians on the Diamond, in The New York Lumber Trade Journal, volume 59, oage 42:

         Borda sent a hot liner to G. Kugler, who made a nifty pick-up, but threw wild at first, giving the batter a life.

       • 1930 May, Boys' Life, page 49:

         But shortstop Tenney, on what should have been the game's last out, gave a First Team batter a life on first, when he let a ground ball slip between his legs.

    3. One of a player's chances to play in various children's playground games, lost when a mistake is made, for example being struck by the ball in dodgeball.
11. (uncountable, insurance) The life insurance industry.

12. (countable) A life assured under a life assurance policy (equivalent to the policy itself for a single life contract).

Synonyms

• (philosophy, essence of manifestation and foundation of being): existence, experience
• (the world in general): time

Antonyms

• (the state that precedes death): death
• (biology): coma
• (philosophy): void

Coordinate terms

• (insurance industry): general, health, pensions

Derived terms

Related terms

• alive
• live
• lively

Translations

See life/translations § Noun.

Interjection

life

1. (obsolete) Synonym of God's life (“an oath”)

Further reading

• life on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Biological life on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Phenomenological life on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

References

• life at OneLook Dictionary Search
• life in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
• life in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• life in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• File, file, filé, flie, lief