HOW TO USE THE DICTIONARY
To look up an entry in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, use the search window above. For best results, after typing in the word, click on the “Search” button instead of using the “enter” key.
Some compound words (like bus rapid transit, dog whistle, or identity theft) don’t appear on the drop-down list when you type them in the search bar. For best results with compound words, place a quotation mark before the compound word in the search window.
THE USAGE PANEL
The Usage Panel is a group of nearly 200 prominent scholars, creative writers, journalists, diplomats, and others in occupations requiring mastery of language. Annual surveys have gauged the acceptability of particular usages and grammatical constructions.
AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY APP
The new American Heritage Dictionary app is now available for iOS and Android.
THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY BLOG
The articles in our blog examine new words, revised definitions, interesting images from the fifth edition, discussions of usage, and more.
INTERESTED IN DICTIONARIES?
Check out the Dictionary Society of North America at http://www.dictionarysociety.com
v. lived, liv·ing, lives v.intr. 1. To be alive; exist. 2. To continue to be alive: lived through a bad accident. 3. To support oneself; subsist: living on rice and fish; lives on a small inheritance. 4. To reside; dwell: lives on a farm. 5. To conduct one's life in a particular manner: lived frugally. 6. To pursue a positive, satisfying existence; enjoy life: those who truly live. 7. To remain in human memory: an event that lives on in our minds. v.tr. Phrasal Verbs: 1. To spend or pass (one's life). 2. To go through; experience: lived a nightmare. 3. To practice in one's life: live one's beliefs. live down To overcome or reduce the shame of (a misdeed, for example) over a period of time. live in To reside in the place where one is employed: household servants who live in. live out To live outside one's place of domestic employment: household servants who live out. live with Idioms: To put up with; resign oneself to: disliked the situation but had to live with it. live it up Slang To engage in festive pleasures or extravagances. live off/on the fat of the land To enjoy the best of everything; live in comfort or luxury. live up to 1. To live or act in accordance with: lived up to their parents' ideals. 2. To prove equal to: a new technology that did not live up to our expectations. 3. To carry out; fulfill: lived up to her end of the bargain. [Middle English liven, from Old English libban, lifian; see leip- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
