life cycle (redirected from life cycles)

life cycle

n.

1. The course of developmental changes through which an organism passes from its inception as a fertilized zygote to the mature state in which another zygote may be produced.

2. A progression through a series of differing stages of development.

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life cycle

Noun

the series of changes occurring in each generation of an animal or plant

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life cycle

The series of changes in the growth and development of an organism from its beginning as an independent life form to its mature state in which offspring are produced. In simple organisms, such as bacteria, the life cycle begins when an organism is produced by fission and ends when that organism in turn divides into two new ones. In organisms that reproduce sexually, the life cycle may be thought of as beginning with the fusion of reproductive cells to form a new organism. The cycle ends when that organism produces its own reproductive cells, which then begin the cycle again by undergoing fusion with other reproductive cells. The life cycles of plants, algae, and many protists often involve an alternation between a generation of organisms that reproduces sexually and another that reproduces asexually. See more at alternation of generations.

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	life cycle - a series of stages through which an organism passes between recurrences of a primary stage organic phenomenon - (biology) a natural phenomenon involving living plants and animals
	2.	life cycle - the course of developmental changes in an organism from fertilized zygote to maturity when another zygote can be produced growing, growth, ontogenesis, ontogeny, maturation, development - (biology) the process of an individual organism growing organically; a purely biological unfolding of events involved in an organism changing gradually from a simple to a more complex level; "he proposed an indicator of osseous development in children"

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The total phases through which an item passes from the time it is initially developed until the time it is either consumed in use or disposed of as being excess to all known materiel requirements.