Meaning & use
life skills
Last updated
Meaning
nounplural
Practical abilities that help a person manage daily life, such as cooking, budgeting, communicating and solving problems.
Grammar: Takes a plural verb: life skills are taught here. The singular life skill is possible but less common.
Patterns
- teach life skills
- learn life skills
- life skills for something
The program teaches teenagers life skills such as budgeting and cooking.
Learning to manage time is one of the most useful life skills.
Many parents feel schools should do more to teach life skills.
Word forms
| singular | life skill |
|---|
Common combinations
- teach life skills
- The charity teaches life skills to young adults.
- essential life skills
- Cooking and first aid are essential life skills.
- basic life skills
- Some students lack basic life skills like doing laundry.
- develop life skills
- Camp helps children develop life skills.
- life skills class
- Our life skills class covers writing a résumé.
Synonyms and how they differ
- practical skills
- Practical skills is broader and includes job skills, while life skills focuses on managing daily personal life.
- coping skills
- Coping skills refers to handling stress and hardship, whereas life skills covers everyday tasks as well.
- soft skills
- Soft skills are interpersonal abilities valued at work, while life skills are wider and include practical tasks.
- survival skills
- Survival skills usually implies emergencies or the outdoors, whereas life skills describes ordinary daily competence.
Word family
Commonly confused: life skills or lifestyle?
life skills vs lifestyle
Lifestyle means the way a person chooses to live, whereas life skills are abilities needed to live independently.
Practice
Learning to budget and cook are examples of ___.
Choose one answer.
Life skills are practical abilities for daily living. A life span is how long something lives, so it does not fit.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “life skills”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.