live off

verb

lived off; living off; lives off

transitive verb

: 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
… the fish goes into a kind of hibernation, living off its reserves of fat …Mark Carwardine
… she is one of the few Iditarod competitors who have turned professional, living off race winnings.National Wildlife
… a growing subculture of people who have reduced their spending habits and live off consumer waste.Erika Hayasaki
Max lives off his father …Harold Beaver

Examples of live off in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Story Duration: One day (0%) How the main characters spend their time: Playing a sport (1%), specifically tennis; farming or living off the land (5%), specifically fishing. Literary Hub, 4 June 2025 Summit, June 10 Image So Far Gone by Jess Walter Rhys Kinnick, a journalist and a recluse, is living off the grid in the woods near Spokane, Wash., when his grandchildren are kidnapped by thugs. Laura Thompson, New York Times, 22 May 2025 To help subsidize her expenses, Read reportedly sold her Mansfield home for $810,000 in November 2024 and is living off of her 401(k) retirement fund after losing her jobs as a Bentley University finance professor and Fidelity Investments equities analyst following her arrest. Julia Bonavita, FOXNews.com, 1 June 2025 By the time that first big screen adaptation came to theaters in late 2001, Rowling had published four Potter books and sold over 100 million copies, vaulting her from living off welfare checks to multi-millionaire celebrity status. Matt Craig, Forbes.com, 30 May 2025 See All Example Sentences for live off

Word History

First Known Use

1609, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of live off was in 1609

Cite this Entry

“Live off.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/live%20off. Accessed 17 Jun. 2025.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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