living

Alive, rather than dead.

• Plants are living things.
• The doctor examined the living tissue.
• Every living creature needs a suitable place to survive.

Similar words: alive

Opposites: dead

Common phrases: living things, living tissue, living creature, living person

Still used, practised, or present today, rather than belonging only to the past.

• It is a living tradition.
• Welsh remains a living language in many communities.
• Nobody in living memory has seen the river this low.

Similar words: current, surviving

Opposites: extinct

Common phrases: living language, living tradition, living memory

The work or income that pays for the things you need.

• What do you do for a living?
• She makes a living selling flowers.
• He earned a good living as a builder.

How to use it: do something for a living (She repairs bicycles for a living.); earn a living by doing something (He earns a living by teaching music.)

Similar words: livelihood

Common phrases: earn a living, for a living, make a living, decent living

People who are alive, considered together as a group.

• We must care for the living.
• The dead remain in the memories of the living.
• The rescue team searched for signs of the living.

How to use it: the living (The memorial gives the living a place to remember.)

Similar words: quick

Opposites: the dead

Common phrases: the living, among the living