live and let live
live and let live verb: to be tolerant; to enjoy the pleasures and opportunities which life offers and to allow others to do the same.
Verb
live and let live (third-person singular simple present lives and lets live, present participle living and letting live, simple past and past participle lived and let live)
- To be tolerant; to enjoy the pleasures and opportunities which life offers and to allow others to do the same.
- "Hout, neighbour," said Mrs. Howden, "we suld live and let live—we hae been young oursells, and we are no aye to judge the warst when lads and lasses forgather."1818, Sir Walter Scott, chapter 23, in The Heart of Mid-Lothian
- ‘Live and let live’ is my motto: let me alone and I'll let you alone.1903, Arthur Quiller-Couch, chapter 36, in Hetty Wesley
live and let live meaning in Tamil
live and let live in Tamil
- be tolerant
- வாழு, வாழ விடு vāḻu, vāḻa viṭu
Forms of live and let live
| third-person singular present | lives and lets live |
|---|---|
| present participle | living and letting live |
| past participle | lived and let live |
| past | lived and let live |
Origin of live and let live
Possibly a calque of Dutch leven en laten leven, which was mentioned by Gerard de Malynes in a 1622 book about trade law (in the then-current spelling leuen ende laeten leuen).
Questions about live and let live
- What does live and let live mean?
- Live and let live means to be tolerant; to enjoy the pleasures and opportunities which life offers and to allow others to do the same.
- What is live and let live in Tamil?
- Live and let live in Tamil is வாழு, வாழ விடு (vāḻu, vāḻa viṭu). See Live and let live meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is live and let live?
- Live and let live is a verb.
- What is the past tense of live and let live?
- The past tense of live and let live is lived and let live.
Words near live and let live in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: live and let live (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-live and let live.ogg.
Cite this entry: “live and let live.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/live_and_let_live. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.