live
1 Americanverb (used without object)
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lives,
present (3rd person singular)
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lived,
past participle, past
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living
present participle
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to have life, as an organism; be alive; be capable of vital functions.
all things that live.
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to continue to have life; remain alive.
to live to a ripe old age.
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to continue in existence, operation, memory, etc.; last.
a book that lives in my memory.
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to maintain or support one's existence; provide for oneself.
to live on one's income.
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to feed or subsist (usually followed by on orupon ).
to live on rice and bananas.
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to dwell or reside (usually followed by in, at, etc.).
to live in a cottage.
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to pass life in a specified manner.
They lived happily ever after.
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to direct or regulate one's life.
to live by the golden rule.
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to experience or enjoy to the full.
At 40 she was just beginning to live.
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to cohabit (usually followed bywith ).
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to escape destruction or remain afloat, as a ship or aircraft.
verb (used with object)
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lives,
present (3rd person singular)
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lived,
past participle, past
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living
present participle
-
to pass (life).
to live a life of ease.
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to practice, represent, or exhibit in one's life.
to live one's philosophy.
verb phrase
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live up to to live in accordance with (expectations or an ideal or standard); measure up to.
He never lived up to his father's vision of him.
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live down to live so as to allow (a mistake, disgrace, etc.) to be forgotten or forgiven.
She'll never live that crucial moment of failure down.
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live in / out to reside at or away from the place of one's employment, especially as a domestic servant.
Their butler lives in, but the maids live out.
idioms
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live high off / on the hog. hog.
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live well, to live comfortably.
They're not wealthy but they live well.
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live it up, to live in an extravagant or wild manner; pursue pleasure.
He started living it up after he got out of the army.
adjective
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It was the little gir's first time seeing live farm animals.
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of, relating to, or during the life of a living being.
Water forms about 50 to 80 percent of an animal's live weight.
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characterized by or indicating the presence of living creatures.
I stood still and listened to the live sounds of the forest.
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Informal. (of a person) energetic and quick to speak or act; animated, spirited, or vivacious.
The club members are a really live bunch.
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responsive to changing conditions, needs, etc., in an imaginative and proactive way.
I like this company—their approach is live and fresh.
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Informal. mentally, emotionally, and physically alive, often in a new way; invigorated, confident, and fully engaged.
After months of quarantine, I felt live and refreshed being exposed to places outside.
During pregame practice we were feeling live and ready for anything.
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made up of actual persons.
He has several studio albums but rarely performs before a live audience.
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(of a radio or television program, podcast, etc.) broadcast or released while happening or being performed; not prerecorded or taped.
I watched a live telecast of the royal wedding.
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burning or glowing.
We roasted our marshmallows over live coals in the firepit.
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being in play, as a baseball or football.
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(of ammunition)
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loaded or unexploded; ready to explode.
Watch out—that’s a live grenade!
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consisting of real bullets or shot, as opposed to rubber bullets or some other charge; explodable.
Security forces used tear gas and live ammunition to break up the riot.
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of current interest or importance, as a question or issue; generating much debate or discussion.
Sexual harassment in the military is still very much a live issue.
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Also alive electrically charged; carrying an electric current, especially if exposed.
Crews safely removed the live wire brought down by a falling tree.
On the subway line, the third rail is live.
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being highly resonant or reverberant, as an auditorium or concert hall.
Plants can absorb the echoes in acoustically live spaces like galleries and gymnasiums.
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having resilience or bounce.
The basketball was losing air rapidly and was barely live by the end of the game.
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moving or imparting motion; powered.
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vivid or bright, as color.
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still in use, or to be used, as type set up or copy for printing.
adverb
idioms
adjective
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(prenominal) showing the characteristics of life
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(usually prenominal) of, relating to, or abounding in life
the live weight of an animal
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(usually prenominal) of current interest; controversial
a live issue
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actual
a real live cowboy
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informal full of life and energy
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(of a coal, ember, etc) glowing or burning
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(esp of a volcano) not extinct
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loaded or capable of exploding
a live bomb
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radio television transmitted or present at the time of performance, rather than being a recording
a live show
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recorded in concert
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recorded in one studio take, without overdubs or splicing
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connected to a source of electric power
a live circuit
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(esp of a colour or tone) brilliant or splendid
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acoustically reverberant
a live studio
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sport (of a ball) in play
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(of rocks, ores, etc) not quarried or mined; native
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being in a state of motion or transmitting power; positively connected to a driving member
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printing
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(of copy) not yet having been set into type
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(of type that has been set) still in use
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adverb
verb
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to show the characteristics of life; be alive
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to remain alive or in existence
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to exist in a specified way
to live poorly
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to reside or dwell
to live in London
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(often foll by on) to continue or last
the pain still lives in her memory
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(usually foll by by) to order one's life (according to a certain philosophy, religion, etc)
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to support one's style of life; subsist
to live by writing
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(foll by with) to endure the effects (of a crime, mistake, etc)
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(foll by through) to experience and survive
he lived through the war
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(tr) to pass or spend (one's life, etc)
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to enjoy life to the full
he knows how to live
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(tr) to put into practice in one's daily life; express
he lives religion every day
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to refrain from interfering in others' lives; to be tolerant
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informal in one's sensitive or defenceless position
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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livesimple
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livessimple
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have livedperfect
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has livedperfect
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am livingprogressive
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are livingprogressive
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is livingprogressive
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have been livingperfect progressive
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has been livingperfect progressive
Past
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livedsimple
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had livedperfect
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was livingprogressive
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were livingprogressive
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had been livingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of live1
First recorded before 900; Middle English liven, Old English lifian, libban; cognate with Dutch leven, German leben, Old Norse lifa, Gothic liban
Origin of live2
First recorded in 1535–45; in 1930–35 live 2 for def. 8; shortened variant of alive, used attributively
Explanation
The verb live means remain alive. If you hope to live until you're 100, start eating vegetables. When live rhymes with give, it's a verb that has to do with existing — being or staying alive, or making your home in a particular place, like when you say, "I live on the planet Earth for the time being." When live rhymes with hive, it is an entirely different word with a very similar meaning, an adjective that means "not dead", or "living". So you could describe your two pet fish by saying, "The one on the left, floating upside down, is the dead fish, and the one on the right is the live fish."
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.
See Examples For:
Slate’s Nitish Pahwa talked to psychologist and MIT professor Sherry Turkle about how “modern technology is scrambling our ability to live in the real world”—and what we can do about it.
From Slate ● Sep. 30, 2026
"Some of that information won't be forthcoming while there is a live investigation, and it is really important for everyone in that area to understand that," she said.
From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026
"He's one of the bears that we've been able to watch on the live cams since the live cams were put in in 2012," she said.
From Barron's ● Sep. 30, 2026
Here, five principles from Chin’s book on how to live more by fearing less.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026
She left the rez after high school, went to college, met Uncle Bret, and now they live in Alexandria, Virginia.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Using modern analytical techniques, researchers identified several internal organs, including the stomach, liver and intestines.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 29, 2026
Schmidt had previously engineered mice whose liver cells separately lacked one or the other of the two main disulfide reductases.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 25, 2026
His parents were told Riley was heading towards liver failure, and they watched as his condition deteriorated to the point where he was delirious and hallucinating.
From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026
The teenager donated her kidneys, liver, pancreas, eyes and tissue, saving the lives of four people and giving sight to two more, her family said.
From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026
‘Cold liver pudding and chicken salad sandwiches and pie.’
From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers
But Cult is assaying the livest of stories.
From Time ● Sep. 5, 2017
Since most Britons fear they may go cold next winter, the coal problem is the livest issue in Britain today.
From Time Magazine Archive
It was just about the livest and jumpin'est opera yet turned out by a young composer in the U.S.
From Time Magazine Archive
I'm the livest, kickingest person you ever saw.
From Time Magazine Archive
Nor let another, whatsoe'er his plea, Take me, while thou yet livest and art free.
From Medea of Euripedes by Euripedes
Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the veteran broadcaster and campaigner had "changed countless lives".
From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026
Deepan Mehta, who lives in San Francisco and runs an AI startup, recently started keeping the equivalent of a “swear jar” but for “prompt speak,” at the office.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026
The university’s presence in the city can provide a source of talent for Griffin and help to improve the city where he lives and his company operates.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 30, 2026
I did what I thought was the right thing, that might not be the popular thing, the thing that would save the most lives.
From Salon ● Sep. 30, 2026
She lives around here and walks freely—except at night.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
A devout Baptist, Evans, who lived and worked in Wilmington, N.C., began making art in the 1930s, after her grandmother’s death.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026
It may also help researchers understand why many bats are unusually resistant to disease and exceptionally long lived for their size.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 30, 2026
The state and church controlled where and how they lived, the type of schooling for children, the language they spoke, and how they could practice their culture, religion and traditional livelihoods, it said.
From Barron's ● Sep. 30, 2026
Ekerdt said adult children often decline their parents’ possessions for exactly this reason: They haven’t lived with the object and they don’t know the story attached to it.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 29, 2026
You know that place, you lived near there for almost a year in middle school, the Smoky Mountains feeling close to home.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Evans’s art didn’t change, but its environments did—proof that curatorial framing shapes perception, and that her universe, like any living cosmology, continues to unfold.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026
Upon entering the property, guests are greeted with an expansive living area, complete with plenty of room to entertain and soaring ceilings.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 30, 2026
The 33-year-old is currently living in a hotel after being evacuated from her flat, in east London, following a fatal fire in her tower block earlier this month.
From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026
The work was carried out through the Bat1K consortium, a global effort dedicated to sequencing the genomes of all living bat species and co-founded by UCD Professor Emma Teeling.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 30, 2026
The car was warm to the touch like a living thing.
From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
