live off

verb

lived off; living off; lives off

transitive verb

: to use (something or someone) as the main source of what one needs to survive (such as money or food)

… the indigenous … people, who have inhabited the rain forest of Irian Jaya, living off the land, for thousands of years.

—Eyal Press

… the fish goes into a kind of hibernation, living off its reserves of fat …

—Mark Carwardine

… she is one of the few Iditarod competitors who have turned professional, living off race winnings.

—National Wildlife

… a growing subculture of people who have reduced their spending habits and live off consumer waste.

—Erika Hayasaki

Max lives off his father …

—Harold Beaver

Examples of live off in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Eastwood plays a former spy — now living off the grid with his wife, a fellow ex-agent (Willa Fitzgerald) — who’s tracked down by dangerous people from his past. —Eric Andersson, People.com, 16 Jan. 2025

Sorby, who has now been to Antarctica more than 100 times, co-wrote the book Hearts in the Ice, which recounts her time living off the grid in Svalbard, Norway, during the 2020 pandemic. —Will McGough, Forbes, 14 Jan. 2025

Mills lives off the grid in the woods of Sonoma County. —Nicole Fell, The Hollywood Reporter, 13 Jan. 2025

There are all these people that live off Amalfi and Sunset Boulevard, kind of the epicenter of celebrity living in Pacific Palisades. —Chris Lee, Vulture, 10 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1609, in the meaning defined above