What comes to mind when you try to answer the question: “Living well is how?” To exist is to live not very joyfully, having a bunch of problems. If you turn to the dictionary, you can find that there is not one, but several interpretations of the word. Among them there is a colloquial option, and figurative meaning. You can learn more about how it is to live from the proposed review.
First interpretation
Among the interpretations of the word under study there is such a thing as “to be alive”, “to lead an existence”. As examples illustrating it, the following can be cited:
- The teacher explained to the students that these poisonous snakes live in the desert, which means that the danger of meeting them in our conditions is minimal.
- There is an episode in Leo Tolstoy’s novel “Anna Karenina” when Dolly’s wife, Steve Oblonsky, learns about her husband’s relationship with a governess who had previously served with them and claims that she can no longer live with him.
Second value
In another interpretation indicated in the dictionary, living is the same as living at a certain address, that is, using a house, apartment, room.
Examples of use:
- This respected family lived in an elite Moscow house, in a spacious apartment of five rooms, located on the second floor.
- My father hinted to Sergey more than once, and it’s quite transparent that living in his years with his parents in a small apartment and being practically dependent on them is not quite a manly act.
Figuratively
There is also a variant of the use of the word, meaning "to exist", "to have a place."
Examples:
- Andrei walked in a column with his head proudly raised, holding up a banner on which the words: “Lenin's ideas live and win” were displayed with bright yellow paint.
- The idea that wildlife is indivisible continues to live among scientists, they continue to make attempts to preserve its diversity.
Fourth option
There is an interpretation according to which “living” means “making a living”. In this case, the verb is used in combination with a noun, which stands in the instrumental case.
Examples:
- For several years, Andrei Semenovich lived in literary work, making translations of Hispanic writers, and, it should be noted, he lived quite well - not so richly, but in abundance.
- His mother constantly reproached Sergey for the fact that he still had not acquired any serious profession, but continued to live by random small earnings.
Similar interpretation
There is another variant of the meaning of the word “live”, which is also combined with a noun in the instrumental case. He talks about a state in which a person is completely absorbed in something - some idea or goal.
- By the age of forty, Igor began to live the idea of a healthy lifestyle so much that everything else went by the wayside for him.
- Many inmates of orphanages live by the idea of creating their own large families, but often girls give birth to children rather early and become single mothers.
In speaking
To live here means to be in love with someone.
Examples of the use of the word:
- When Andrei and Nina quarreled, he began to spread rumors that he allegedly lived with her, it almost led to a fight with the girl’s current boyfriend.
- Unlike today, living with a young man before the wedding was not so bad, it was almost impossible, and if that happened, then he would hide in the most thorough way.
In conclusion, the origin of the studied word will be considered.
Etymology
The lexeme under consideration comes from the pre-Slavic verb žiti. From him, in particular, were formed:
- Old Slavonic and Ukrainian - live;
- Belarusian - life;
- Slovenian - živéti;
- Czech and Slovak - žít;
- Polish - żyć;
- Upper Luga - žić;
- Bulgarian - living - in the meaning of "I live";
- Serbo-Croatian - ѝѝveti - in the same meaning as in the Bulgarian language.
It is related to such words as:
- the Old Prussian verb giwa, meaning "lives", and the adjective giwāntei, which means "alive";
- Upper Luga žiju - “I live”;
- Old Indian jīvati - “lives”;
- Avestan - ǰvaiti - the same as in Old Indian.