Meaning

A conscious existence after death; a supernatural life that follows one's natural life, in some worldviews..

Definitions by Sense

1. A conscious existence after death; a supernatural life that follows one's natural life, in some worldviews.
2. The place believed to be inhabited by people who have died.
3. (countable, uncountable, now chiefly informal) The part of a person's life that follows a particular stage or event; later life.
4. The effects of a person's actions, or their reputation, after death.
5. The events or situations that result from a particular event; the later reception, consumption or reworking of something, especially a cultural production such as a film, book, etc.

Example Sentences

Many religious people believe in an afterlife.

1715, Alexander Pope, The Temple of Fame, London: Bernard Lintott, Note to p. 16, ver. 5, Those heroick Barbarians accounted it a Dishonour to die in their Beds, and rush’d on to certain Death in the Prospect of an After-Life […]

1891, Ambrose Bierce, “A Watcher by the Dead” in Tales of Soldiers and Civilians, San Francisco: E.L.G. Steele, p. 175, I, who have not a shade of superstition in my nature—I, who have no belief in immortality—I, who know […] that the after-life is the dream of a desire

Read in euery Starre, and let the Moone be your Candle to doe it, the prouident disposition of God, the eternitie of your after-life.

Each person took this paper money and dropped it into a huge tin drum which held within it a fierce fire, a bonfire of heavenly money for Tiger’s afterlife.

You'll reunite later, somewhere in the afterlife.

There were human cultures that taught an afterlife of the blessed on mountaintops or in clouds, in caverns or oases, but she could not recall any in which if you were very, very good when you died you went to the beach.

He wanted to offer a little reminder that the world is cruel and pointless, all human endeavour ultimately meaningless, and no advancement in this world worth making besides gaining God’s favour and an entry ticket into the better half of the afterlife.

Word Forms

• afterlives
• afterlifes

Synonyms for afterlife

Antonyms for afterlife

Related Words

When Should You Use Afterlife?

Use afterlife when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

Practice This Word

Frequently Asked Questions