The word ‘live’ can mean many different things. As a verb, the meaning is to reside at a location or remain alive.
For example:
- I live in a bungalow. (reside)
- My grandma lived to 98. (remain alive)
Live is a regular verb. The past tense and past participle is lived.
idiomatic phrasal verbs
Did you know phrasal verbs are sometimes used in idioms? See if you can spot any. If you don’t know any phrasal verbs with ‘live’, click here to learn them.
idioms list with ‘live’
- learn to live with something – accept and adapt to something unpleasant
e.g. I’ve learnt to live with my husband’s snoring because I love him. - live and learn – someone has survived and learnt from a bad/unpleasant experience
e.g. I didn’t know I needed a heater for my tropical fish, you live and learn. - live for the moment – concentrate on the present, don’t worry about the future
e.g. We live for the moment and spend all our wages on having fun. - live for the weekend – someone’s life revolves around the weekend’s activities
e.g. Tori lives for the weekend, she loves being sociable and travelling. - live from hand to mouth – very poor, have just enough money to survive
e.g. We are living from hand to mouth at the moment and we have another baby on the way. - live in cloud cuckoo land – a fantasy land
e.g. You’re living in cloud cuckoo land if you think your wife will take you back. - live it up – enjoy yourself and have fun
e.g. It’s time to stop living it up. I need to stop partying and work more. - live on borrowed time – have survived longer than expected and won’t for much longer
e.g. My grandad was given 6 months to live. We’re now in month 8, he’s living on borrowed time. - live out of a suitcase – never unpack one’s items when travelling
e.g. The one thing I hate about travelling is living out of a suitcase.
Let’s see these idioms with pictures and meaning using real-life scenarios.
Psst…
Hey, did you know the verb ‘live’ has many phrasal verbs. Since you like idioms and phrases, you obviously want to improve your fluency and speak like a native.
Am I right?
I thought you might like to learn the phrasal verbs with ‘live’ too. They are very common in informal English and great to know/be able to understand if you happen to be speaking to a native. We use them all the time, like literally ALL the time.