living

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   absolute, total

   I am a living doll.

2. 2
   adj

   still in active use

   a living language

3. 3
   adj

   still in existence

   the Wollemi pine found in Australia is a surviving specimen of a conifer thought to have been long extinct and therefore known as a living fossil

4. 4
   adj

   pertaining to living persons

   within living memory

5. 5
   noun

   people who are still living

   save your pity for the living

6. 6
   adj

   Having life; alive.

   a living, breathing child

7. 7
   adj

   In use or existing.

   Hunanese is a living language.

8. 8
   adj

   True to life.

   This is the living image of Fidel Castro.

Etymology

From Middle English livynge, libbyng, livinde, livand, livende, libbinde, libbende, from Old English lifiġende, lifiende, libbende, from Proto-West Germanic *libbjandī, from Proto-Germanic *libjandz (“living”), present participle of Proto-Germanic *libjaną (“to live”), equivalent to live + -ing. Cognate with West Frisian libbend (“living”), Dutch levend (“living”), German lebend (“living”), Swedish levande (“living”), Icelandic lifandi (“living”).