live off
verb
lived off; living off; lives off
: to use (something or someone) as the main source of what one needs to survive (such as money or food)
… the indigenous … people, who have inhabited the rain forest of Irian Jaya, living off the land, for thousands of years.—
Eyal Press
Eyal Press… the fish goes into a kind of hibernation, living off its reserves of fat …—Mark Carwardine
Mark Carwardine… she is one of the few Iditarod competitors who have turned professional, living off race winnings.—National Wildlife
National Wildlife… a growing subculture of people who have reduced their spending habits and live off consumer waste.—Erika Hayasaki
Erika HayasakiMax lives off his father …—Harold Beaver
Harold BeaverExamples of live off in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Gilligan briefly received rental assistance but now lives off his new job as director of development with Lived Experience Advisers, a local homelessness advocacy group.
—Blake Nelson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 17 Apr. 2024
Michelle McDonough, 49, works part time at a tobacco shop in Maine and lives off Social Security disability payments.
—Brian Fung, CNN, 23 Mar. 2024
If society ever collapses because of nuclear war, survivors can live off of the resilient seaweed that gets left behind, a new study says.
—Julia Gomez, USA TODAY, 31 Jan. 2024
But no one in her family has enough to eat or even space to cook, living off a shared bite or piece of street food each day.
—Caitlin Stephen Hu, CNN, 18 Mar. 2024
Many in Gaza have been living off little more than a native wild plant known as Egyptian mallow, commonly eaten by Palestinians.
—Andrew Jacobs, New York Times, 10 Mar. 2024
The rule was created in the 1950s to stop nonprofits from purchasing commercial businesses and living off the profits, such as the 1946 case in which New York University purchased C.F. Meuller pasta company with the intent of benefiting from the profits generated by macaroni sales.
—Scott Hodge, Orange County Register, 26 Feb. 2024
But my take is that the industry is undergoing a bit of a reality check after living off of easy money since at least the end of 2022 when the debut of OpenAI’s ChatGPT opened the venture capital floodgates.
—Verne Kopytoff, Fortune, 26 Mar. 2024
As settlements grew and work became more specialized, the resulting social structure enabled an elite minority — chiefs, warriors, priests and their families — to live off the surplus created by others.
—Cody Cottier, Discover Magazine, 5 Mar. 2024
Blake Nelson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 17 Apr. 2024
Michelle McDonough, 49, works part time at a tobacco shop in Maine and lives off Social Security disability payments.
—Brian Fung, CNN, 23 Mar. 2024
If society ever collapses because of nuclear war, survivors can live off of the resilient seaweed that gets left behind, a new study says.
—Julia Gomez, USA TODAY, 31 Jan. 2024
But no one in her family has enough to eat or even space to cook, living off a shared bite or piece of street food each day.
—Caitlin Stephen Hu, CNN, 18 Mar. 2024
Many in Gaza have been living off little more than a native wild plant known as Egyptian mallow, commonly eaten by Palestinians.
—Andrew Jacobs, New York Times, 10 Mar. 2024
The rule was created in the 1950s to stop nonprofits from purchasing commercial businesses and living off the profits, such as the 1946 case in which New York University purchased C.F. Meuller pasta company with the intent of benefiting from the profits generated by macaroni sales.
—Scott Hodge, Orange County Register, 26 Feb. 2024
But my take is that the industry is undergoing a bit of a reality check after living off of easy money since at least the end of 2022 when the debut of OpenAI’s ChatGPT opened the venture capital floodgates.
—Verne Kopytoff, Fortune, 26 Mar. 2024
As settlements grew and work became more specialized, the resulting social structure enabled an elite minority — chiefs, warriors, priests and their families — to live off the surplus created by others.
—Cody Cottier, Discover Magazine, 5 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'live off.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Live off.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/live%20off. Accessed 1 May. 2024.
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