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.
The Home Office's new figures show that the number of asylum seekers living in hotels while waiting for their claims to be processed fell to 20,885 as of March 2026.
From BBC • May 21, 2026
The idea was that a well-constructed welfare state could deliver the same material standard of living as America’s cowboy capitalism, or better.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 21, 2026
Even if a new grad is paying rent to their parents, it will likely be less than they’d be shelling out if they were living on their own.
From MarketWatch • May 21, 2026
"Now that we've demonstrated the approach in a simple model, we're working to extend it into living systems to study even more complex diseases."
From Science Daily • May 21, 2026
Sisters on either side, living in the hand-me-down boots and jackets of his older brothers, a stairstep in the parade of Dannenbergs tripping off to church on Sunday mornings in height-descending order.
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
