Word.ws English Dictionary

living up

living up is the present participle and gerund of live up.

Meaning of live up

Verb

live up (third-person singular simple present lives up, present participle living up, simple past and past participle lived up)

  1. (idiomatic, intransitive, with-to) To fulfil the expectations placed upon one.
    • She never lived up to her reputation.
  2. (idiomatic, obsolete) To spend money on one's lifestyle to the exact limit of a specific budget or revenue, leaving nothing for savings.
    • 'But it is not to be imagined that she lives up to her income. Few people of common prudence will do that; and whatever she saves, she will be able to dispose of.'1811, [Jane Austen], chapter XI, in Sense and Sensibility […], volume II, London: […] C[harles] Roworth, […], and published by T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC

Questions about living up

What is living up the present participle and gerund of?
Living up is the present participle and gerund of live up.

Words near living up in the dictionary

  1. living together
  2. living tree doctrine
  3. living trust
  4. living trusts
  5. living under a rock
  6. living up
  7. living wage
  8. living wages
  9. living wall
  10. living walls
  11. living will

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: living up (page history and authors); live up (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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