living
Usage
What are other ways to say living?
Living and livelihood (a somewhat more formal word), both refer to what one earns to keep (oneself) alive, but are seldom interchangeable within the same phrase: to earn one's living; to threaten one's livelihood. “To make a living” suggests making just enough to keep alive, and is particularly frequent in the negative: You cannot make a living out of that. “To make a livelihood out of something” suggests rather making a business of it: to make a livelihood out of knitting hats. Maintenance refers usually to what is spent for the living of another: to provide for the maintenance of someone. Maintenance occasionally refers to the allowance itself provided for livelihood: They are entitled to a maintenance from this estate.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Living a healthy life is easy in theory but hard in practice.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 7, 2026
Living in separate homes, acting as if your house is a teenage crash pad and refusing to make any changes to his habits treats you like girlfriend/boyfriend rather than husband/wife.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 6, 2026
Pure Living has erected a poster in its Cambridge shopfront, written in Mandarin, looking for help using the social media platforms WeChat and Xiaohongshu to advertise homes in the city.
From BBC • Jun. 2, 2026
Living in the beach city for more than 50 years, he wondered why nothing could be done about the trash washed in by the San Gabriel River.
From Los Angeles Times • May 15, 2026
Living at the edge of the wild country meant that Thialfi and Roskva were used to miracles and strange things happening in their world.
From "Norse Mythology" by Neil Gaiman
