living memory
5
4.4
- noun
- /ˈlɪvɪŋ ˈmɛməri/
:
memoria viva
- After that sweltering afternoon in May, we went through a period of epic heat, the hottest summer in living memory.
And The thing is that's way out of living memory.
- And The thing is that's way out of living memory.
- As one epidemiologist explained, this is maybe the most contagious virus that we've ever seen in living memory.
- So do you remember after the Manchester Arena bombings at the Ariana Grande concert, which were were one of the most speakable crimes in living memory?
Examples
-
A truly great set of images of a past that is fading from living memory.
Blog text (34) -
The winter of 1939-1940 is the coldest in the living memory of Belzyce.
Fiction book (1997) -
The worst heat wave in living memory.
Academic text (1994) -
This is the first time in my living memory that the United States Supreme Court has actually taken away a right.
-
Nobody had been murdered within living memory.
Academic text (2006) -
The region's heading for the worst drought In living memory.
-
No conference in living memory has delivered great food at lunchtime.
Blog text (15) -
In Australian living memory, we get the impression that the dry continent is drying out even more.
Blog text (32) -
Richard Jones is expecting this year to be the toughest in living memory for social workers as the public sector faces severe cuts.
Academic text (2010) -
For many people, the events of September 11th are still vivid in their living memory.
Synonyms
12
3.5
A time in the recent past that people have lived through
How Recent
287
1.0
16
3.3
5
4.4
18
3.3
8
4.8
- Archaic
1
9.4
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'living' (alive/still existing) modifies 'memory' (recollection) to yield memories within the lifetime of people still alive. This adjective+noun pattern is common cross-linguistically and follows regular English composition, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents should be able to infer the intended meaning.
Etymology
Living memory comes from a simple image: living means alive and memory means what people remember. So it refers to the 'time people can remember' while those people are still alive.