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Glite Dictionary
to live in

to live in

194 3.7
To stay and sleep where you work, usually in your employer's house
  • phrasal verb
  • /lɪv ɪn/
translation icon : vivir en casa del empleador
  • The high school volunteers live in tents in the backcountry and cook their own meals.

Examples

  • The butler has to live in the mansion so he can assist the family at all hours.

  • As a nanny, she lives in her employer's house to take care of the children.

  • Um, this job of mine -- does it mean I get to live in the palace?

    Fiction book (1993)

  • The majority are living among other ethnic groups, rather than living in relatively exclusive residential communities.

    Academic text (2008)

  • She's been living in Paris for the past two years.

    The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

  • Oldenburg suggested, "They'll live in your old place, and you can visit them on weekends."

    Fiction book (1990)

  • Under her contract, she is required to live in with the family she works for.

Synonyms

to live
vsto live in
∞ 1.0

To have a home in a particular place

is about employees who are based at their workplace, not ordinary home life
to reside
vsto live in
91 3.0

To live in a particular place

is restricted to employees who stay at the place where they work
to inhabit
vsto live in
75 3.5

To live in a place like a house or area

is about employees staying at their workplace home rather than general environmental presence
to dwell
vsto live in
45 3.2

To live in a place such as a house or town

is specific to domestic employees who remain at their employer's house while working
to sleep in
vsto live in
  • Archaic
5 6.3

To sleep at the house where you work, for example as a nanny

is about employees staying specifically in their employer's house
to domicile
vsto live in
  • Formal
2 7.9

To make a place your official home for legal and tax purposes

is focused on employees staying at their workplace rather than creating a legal home

Antonyms

to live out
  • Jargon
7 3.9

To work in someone's home and return to your own home each day

How Responsible

to live in
194 3.7
to housesit
1 3.7
to stay over
  • Informal
70 3.0

Surface Forms

live in infinitive
lived in past
lived in past participle
living in present participle
lives in third person singular

Morphology

live + in

The meaning 'to reside at the place where one works' is directly derivable from 'live' (to inhabit) + 'in' (inside/at a place). The spatial/compositional relation is a standard, cross-linguistically common construction, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer this sense.

Etymology

The phrasal verb live in comes from the simple image of someone who lives in the same house where they work, like a nanny or caretaker who sleeps and eats at the family's home. So, live in means 'to stay and sleep at the place you work'.