lifework

[ lahyf-wurk ]

/ ˈlaɪfˈwɜrk /

the complete or principal work, labor, or task of a lifetime.

Origin of lifework

First recorded in 1870–75; life + work

In 1966, George E. Vaillant, a 32 year-old psychiatrist, was put in charge of the study, and it became his lifework.

What Harvard’s Grant Study Reveals about Happiness and Life |Dan Slater |November 7, 2012 |DAILY BEAST
If these things were not indispensable for a fair conception of his lifework, I should certainly not have dwelt on them.

Ludvig Holberg, The Founder of Norwegian Literature and an Oxford Student |Simon Christian Hammer
My lifework has not been in my foundry, nor in my town, nor in my church—but in my heart, this guilty heart of mine.

St. Cuthbert's |Robert E. Knowles
I may as well add a few more such extracts, as strictly within the text of "My Lifework."

My Life as an Author |Martin Farquhar Tupper

If a man hates his lifework, he is very likely to hate his life.

The Measure of a Man |Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr
What was the lifework he was raised up to do, and how did he do it?

My Life as an Author |Martin Farquhar Tupper