Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

make a living

Word Rarity Common

Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.23 in modern English

Syllables
make a liv-ing
IPA
21
Scrabble Score
11
Letters
2
Syllables
9
Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To earn enough income to support oneself and, if applicable, one's family.

verb

To manage to find enough food to survive.

Example Sentences

Inflected Forms

makes a living (present, singular) making a living (participle, present) made a living (participle, past) made a living (past)

Phrases

living wage daily bread pay the bills pay the rent

Frequently Paired Words

living wage daily bread pay the bills pay the rent

Synonyms

earn a living bring home the bacon carry one's weight earn one's corn earn one's crust earn one's keep keep the home fires burning put bread on the table put food on the table

Questions

What does make a living mean?
To earn enough income to support oneself and, if applicable, one's family.

How to pronounce make a living

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “make a living”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “make a living”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “make a living” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.