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life-saving

British  

adjective

  1. acting to save a person's life

  2. informal giving help in time of need

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

noun

  1. the practice or techniques of saving people's lives

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Denying patients a life-saving medicine for inexplicable reasons is the wrong kind of change.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 21, 2026

They don’t have to go without life-saving medicine — they have access to the best doctors and health care in the world.

From Salon • Apr. 19, 2026

"Not only will the Welsh Ambulance Service continue to be understaffed and likely continue to miss key life-saving response time targets, but taxpayers are footing the bill," he said.

From BBC • Apr. 5, 2026

In a statement, ICE said staff found Ramos-Solano unresponsive in his bunk and immediately initiated life-saving measures, including CPR, while calling emergency services.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 30, 2026

They’d grown painfully intense—like she’d been forced to withdraw from a life-saving medication.

From "The Mark of Athena" by Rick Riordan

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.