Basic Details
Word: Living
Part of Speech: Noun, adjective
Meaning: As a noun, the money a person earns to pay for food and a home, or a way of life. As an adjective, alive now.
Synonyms: livelihood, income, alive
Antonyms: dead, extinct
How to Spell Living
Syllables: liv - ing
Tricky part: Live drops its final e before ing, so there is no e in living. The v is not doubled.
Watch out for: liveing, livving, leving
Memory tip: When ing arrives, the silent e of live steps out of the way, just as it does in have becoming having.
Idioms and Phrases
- make a living: to earn enough money to live on. Example: "He makes a living by selling handmade kites in the old city."
- living proof: a person or thing that clearly shows something is true. Example: "My grandmother, who walks five kilometres a day, is living proof that exercise keeps you fit."
Usage Examples
Example 1: The living room is where our family watches the evening news.
Example 2: Weaving silk sarees has been the family's living for three generations.
Example 3: Scientists study living cells under a microscope.
Fun Fact
The coelacanth, a fish known only from fossils, was thought to have died out millions of years ago until a live one was caught off South Africa in 1938. It is often called a living fossil.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Cookie
Find the extra letter in the word:
liveing
a) g
b) v
c) e
d) i
Show answer
c) e. Live gives up its e before ing, so living has no e.
Word Connection
Choose the word opposite in meaning to living as used in the sentence:
Is the poet still living, or did he pass away last year?
a) alive
b) breathing
c) surviving
d) deceased
Show answer
d) deceased. Living here means alive, so deceased is the opposite; the other three agree with living.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the word in the sentence and choose it:
My great-grandmother is the oldest vlinig member of our family.
a) lining
b) giving
c) loving
d) living
Show answer
d) living. Oldest living member means the oldest one still alive; only living uses these letters, since loving needs an o.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. If someone 'makes a living' as a tailor, tailoring is how they ____.
a) spend holidays
b) learn English
c) get exercise
d) earn money
Show answer
d) earn money
2. Which of these is a living thing?
a) a steel spoon
b) a plastic chair
c) a mango tree
d) a stone
Show answer
c) a mango tree
