live [1] (lives 3rd person present) (living present participle) (lived past tense & past participle ) (VERB USES)
Please look at category 8 to see if the expression you are looking for is shown under another headword.
1 verb If someone lives in a particular place or with a particular person, their home is in that place or with that person.
She has lived here for 10 years... V adv/prep
She always said I ought to live alone... V adv/prep
Where do you live?... V adv/prep
He still lives with his parents. V adv/prep
2 verb If you say that someone lives in particular circumstances or that they live a particular kind of life, you mean that they are in those circumstances or that they have that kind of life.
We lived quite grandly... V adv/prep
Compared to people living only a few generations ago, we have greater opportunities to have a good time... V adv/prep
We can start living a normal life again now. V n
3 verb If you say that someone lives for a particular thing, you mean that it is the most important thing in their life.
He lived for his work. V for n
4 verb To live means to be alive. If someone livesto a particular age, they stay alive until they are that age.
He's got a terrible disease and will not live long... V adv
He lived to be 103... V to-inf
Matilda was born in northern Italy in 1046 and apparently lived to a ripe old age... V to n
The blue whale is the largest living thing on the planet... V-ing
5 verb If people live by doing a particular activity, they get the money, food, or clothing they need by doing that activity.
no cont
...the last indigenous people to live by hunting... V by -ing/n
These crimes were committed largely by professional criminals who lived by crime. V by -ing/n
6 verb If you live by a particular rule, belief, or ideal, you behave in the way in which it says you should behave.
They live by the principle that we are here to add what we can to life, not to get what we want from it. V by n
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to live hand to mouth
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hand
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to live beyond your means
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means
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to live in sin
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sin live down phrasal verb If you are unable to live down a mistake, failure, or bad reputation, you are unable to make people forget about it.
Labour was also unable to live down its reputation as the party of high taxes... V P n (not pron)
I thought I'd never live it down. V n P live off phrasal verb If you live off another person, you rely on them to provide you with money.
...a man who all his life had lived off his father. V P n live on , live off
1 phrasal verb If you live on or live off a particular amount of money, you have that amount of money to buy things.
Even with efficient budgeting, most students are unable to live on £4000 per year... V P amount
You'll have enough to live on... V P amount
2 phrasal verb If you live on or live off a particular source of income, that is where you get the money that you need.
The proportion of Americans living on welfare rose... V P n
He's been living off state benefits. V P n
3 phrasal verb If an animal lives on or lives off a particular food, this is the kind of food that it eats.
The fish live on the plankton... V P n
Most species live off aquatic snails. V P n
4 phrasal verb If you say that a person lives on or lives off a particular kind of food, you mean that it seems to be the only thing that they eat, for example because they like it a lot or because they do not have other foods.
The children live on chips... V P n
Their room was bare of furniture and they lived off porridge. V P n live on phrasal verb If someone lives on, they continue to be alive for a long time after a particular point in time or after a particular event.
I know my life has been cut short by this terrible virus but Daniel will live on after me. V P live out
1 phrasal verb If you live out your life in a particular place or in particular circumstances, you stay in that place or in those circumstances until the end of your life or until the end of a particular period of your life.
Gein did not stand trial but lived out his days in a mental asylum... V P n (not pron)
I couldn't live my life out on tour like he does. V n P
2 phrasal verb If you live out a dream or idea, you do the things that you have thought about.
He began living out his rock `n' roll fantasy during his last year in law school... V P n (not pron)
I suppose some people create an idea of who they want to be, and then they live it out. V n P live through phrasal verb If you live through an unpleasant event or change, you experience it and survive.
We are too young to have lived through the war... V P n live together phrasal verb If two people are not married but live in the same house and have a sexual relationship, you can say that they live together.
The couple had been living together for 16 years. V P live up to phrasal verb If someone or something lives up to what they were expected to be, they are as good as they were expected to be.
Sales have not lived up to expectations this year... V P P n
