to work for a living
25
2.2
- phrasal verb
:
ganarse la vida
- Many people need to work for a living in order to support their families.
- people work for a living
- still work for a living
- need to work for a living
That is, she has to work for a living.
- That is, she has to work for a living.
Examples
-
There are those of us who work for a living, and our free time is precious.
Fiction book (1998) -
A good rule of thumb is that if you work for a living, you need disability insurance.
Blog text (30) -
We all have to go out and work for a living.
-
Not many people want to work for a living these days.
-
I got to work for a living!
-
I work for a living.
-
We were college boys; he had to work for a living.
Fiction book (2000) -
Don't these people work for a living?
-
Why don't you go and work for a living?
-
I never wanted to collect UI; I've always prided myself on working for a living.
Blog text (29)
Synonyms
∞
1.0
To have a job or be employed
477
1.2
To get money by working or running a business
33
2.2
To make money to support yourself
To make enough money to live
Do enough work, paid or not, to pay for food and a place to live
How Money-Focused
- US
780
1.0
- Informal
25
2.2
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to earn money by having a job' is directly compositional from 'work' (to be employed) + 'for' (indicating purpose/reason) + 'a living' (means of support/earnings). This purpose-driven composition is cross-linguistically common and follows ordinary English patterns, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words will readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Work for a living shows a simple picture: you do work so you can pay for your living, the everyday things you need. So it means 'to earn money by having a job'.