Link Centre Dictionary

living

li·ving

UK/ˈlɪvɪŋ/ US/ˈlɪvɪŋ/ very common
noun (4) adjective (7)

noun

1.

the experience of living; the course of human events and activities

  • “he could no longer cope with the complexities of life”
Synonyms
2.

people who are still living

  • “save your pity for the living”
Antonyms
3.

the condition of living or the state of being alive

  • “while there”
  • “s hope”
  • “life depends on many chemical and physical processes”
Synonyms
4.

the financial means whereby one lives

  • “each child was expected to pay for their keep”
  • “he applied to the state for support”
  • “he could no longer earn his own livelihood”
Synonyms

adjective

1.

pertaining to living persons

  • “within living memory”
2.

true to life; lifelike

  • “the living image of her mother”
Similar
3.

dwelling or inhabiting; often used in combination

  • “living quarters”
  • “tree-living animals”
4.

(informal) absolute

  • “she is a living doll”
  • “scared the living daylights out of them”
  • “beat the living hell out of him”
Similar
5.

still in existence

  • “the Wollemi pine found in Australia is a surviving specimen of a conifer thought to have been long extinct and therefore known as a living fossil”
  • “the only surviving frontier blockhouse in Pennsylvania”
Synonyms
Similar
6.

still in active use

  • “a living language”
Similar
7.

(used of minerals or stone) in its natural state and place; not mined or quarried

  • “carved into the living stone”
Similar

Origin

From Middle English livynge, libbyng, livinde, livand, livende, libbinde, libbende, from Old English lifiġende, lifiende, libbende, from Proto-West Germanic *libbjandī, from Proto-Germanic *libjandz (“living”), present participle of Proto-Germanic *libjaną (“to live”), equivalent to live + -ing. Cognate with West Frisian libbend (“living”), Dutch levend (“living”), German lebend (“living”), Swedish levande (“living”), Icelandic lifandi (“living”).

Phrases

  • activities of daily living
  • assisted living
  • by the living jingo
  • cost of living
  • earn a living
  • high living
  • in living color
  • in living memory
  • it takes a heap of living to make a house a home
  • it takes a lot of living to make a house a home
  • knock the living daylights out of
  • land of the living

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.