cost of living
41
2.3
- noun
- /kɔst əv ˈlɪvɪŋ/
:
coste de la vida
- Many people are struggling to afford the rising cost of living in major cities.
- a high cost of living
- rising cost of living
- cost of living increase
Research the cost of living in the area of the school.
- Research the cost of living in the area of the school.
- Like our cost of living is way less.
- I try to keep my cost of living extremely, extremely low.
- You need six months of your total cost of living set aside in an account.
- I could be on Zoom all day, but my cost of living is way down.
- Yeah, the cost of living in Georgia is rising.
- So those increasing dividends will keep pace with an increase in cost of living.
- And so right now we can see the Poly crisis and the wars and the challenges and the cost of living crisis.
- So by reducing your cost of living your your expense, right?
Examples
-
The cost of living has gone up terribly.
-
High salaries and other benefits add much to the cost of living.
Academic text (2000) -
Research the cost of living in the area of the school.
-
I try to keep my cost of living extremely, extremely low.
-
Do you realize what the cost of living is in this town?
-
Is it my fault that the cost of living is going up?
-
The U.S. has a much higher cost of living than China.
Academic text (2012) -
Think about your bills, the cost of living, where you are.
-
You need six months of your total cost of living set aside in an account.
-
A country with a lower cost of living generally has lower wages.
Academic text (2012)
Antonyms
How Expensive
41
2.3
20
3.4
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'the amount of money needed to live' is directly and compositionally derived from 'cost' (monetary amount) + 'of' (possessive/relational) + 'living' (the state of being / daily life), so a B1 learner who knows the parts can infer the phrase. This construction is common cross-linguistically (e.g. Spanish 'costo de vida', French 'coût de la vie'), increasing its predictability and transparency.
Etymology
Cost of living comes from a simple image: people add up the cost of food, rent and clothes to see how much living in a place will require. So it now means 'how much money you need to live'.