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.
That’s because a screwworm larva “attacks living flesh,” Talbot said.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 6, 2026
I cannot vote here, which I have come to think of as the price of admission for living in a country whose politics do not become world headlines.
From Slate • Jun. 6, 2026
In a perspective published in the scientific journal Biocontaminant, researchers describe free living amoebae as an overlooked public health risk that needs far more attention.
From Science Daily • Jun. 6, 2026
The New World Screwworm is a parasitic fly whose females lay eggs in open wounds and mucous membranes of living warm-blooded animals and people.
From BBC • Jun. 6, 2026
“I talk to them often and they come to see me in the summer. I’m in their lives sure as if I was living here, too,” she says.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
