I. VERB USES
(~s, living, ~d)
Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
Please look at category 8 to see if the expression you are looking for is shown under another headword.
1.
If someone ~s in a particular place or with a particular person, their home is in that place or with that person.
She has ~d here for 10 years...
She always said I ought to ~ alone...
Where do you ~?...
He still ~s with his parents.
VERB: V adv/prep, V adv/prep, V adv/prep, V adv/prep
2.
If you say that someone ~s in particular circumstances or that they ~ a particular kind of life, you mean that they are in those circumstances or that they have that kind of life.
We ~d quite grandly...
Compared to people living only a few generations ago, we have greater opportunities to have a good time...
We can start living a normal life again now.
VERB: V adv/prep, V adv/prep, V n
3.
If you say that someone ~s for a particular thing, you mean that it is the most important thing in their life.
He ~d for his work.
VERB: V for n
4.
To ~ means to be a~. If someone ~s to a particular age, they stay a~ until they are that age.
He’s got a terrible disease and will not ~ long...
He ~d to be 103...
Matilda was born in northern Italy in 1046 and apparently ~d to a ripe old age...
The blue whale is the largest living thing on the planet...
VERB: V adv, V to-inf, V to n, V-ing
5.
If people ~ by doing a particular activity, they get the money, food, or clothing they need by doing that activity.
...the last indigenous people to ~ by hunting...
These crimes were committed largely by professional criminals who ~d by crime.
VERB: no cont, V by -ing/n, V by -ing/n
6.
If you ~ by a particular rule, belief, or ideal, you behave in the way in which it says you should behave.
They ~ by the principle that we are here to add what we can to life, not to get what we want from it.
VERB: V by n
7.
see also living
8.
to ~ hand to mouth: see hand
to ~ beyond your means: see means
to ~ in sin: see sin
II. ADJECTIVE USES
Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English.
1.
Live animals or plants are a~, rather than being dead or artificial.
...a protest against the company’s tests on ~ animals.
...baskets of ~ chickens.
? dead
ADJ: ADJ n
2.
A ~ television or radio programme is one in which an event or performance is broadcast at exactly the same time as it happens, rather than being recorded first.
Murray was a guest on a ~ radio show.
...we were laughing and gossiping, oblivious to the fact that we were on ~ TV...
A broadcast of the speech was heard in San Francisco, but it is not known if this was ~.
ADJ
•
Live is also an adverb.
It was broadcast ~ in 50 countries...
We’ll be going ~ to Nottingham later in this bulletin.
ADV: ADV after v
3.
A ~ performance is given in front of an audience, rather than being recorded and then broadcast or shown in a film.
The Rainbow has not hosted ~ music since the end of 1981...
A ~ audience will pose the questions...
The band was forced to cancel a string of ~ dates.
ADJ: usu ADJ n
•
Live is also an adverb.
Kat Bjelland has been playing ~ with her new band.
ADV: ADV after v
4.
A ~ recording is a recording of a band playing at a concert, rather than in a studio.
This is my favourite ~ album of all time...
ADJ: usu ADJ n
5.
A ~ wire or piece of electrical equipment is directly connected to a source of electricity.
The plug broke, exposing ~ wires...
He warned others about the ~ electric cables as they climbed to safety.
ADJ: usu ADJ n
6.
Live bullets are made of metal, rather than rubber or plastic, and are intended to kill people rather than injure them.
They trained in the jungle using ~ ammunition.
ADJ: usu ADJ n
7.
A ~ bomb or missile is one which has not yet exploded.
A ~ bomb had earlier been defused.
ADJ: usu ADJ n