make a living
idiom
: to earn the money one needs to pay for housing, food, etc.
He made a living by working as a cook.
Examples of make a living in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
As Dolly once said about a very different sort of daily grind: What a way to make a living!
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Judy Berman, TIME, 20 June 2024
The other thing is that the country has undergone a lot of deindustrialization; the composition of the workforce and the ways that people make a living have changed a great deal from that time.
—Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker, 18 June 2024
But these Joro webs are everywhere in the fall, including right next to busy roads, and the spiders seem to be able to make a living there.
—Ingrid Vasquez, Peoplemag, 5 June 2024
As a young actor, Costner recalled working on fishing boats and driving trucks to make a living while auditioning.
—Brayden Garcia, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 13 June 2024
See all Example Sentences for make a living 
Judy Berman, TIME, 20 June 2024
The other thing is that the country has undergone a lot of deindustrialization; the composition of the workforce and the ways that people make a living have changed a great deal from that time.
—Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker, 18 June 2024
But these Joro webs are everywhere in the fall, including right next to busy roads, and the spiders seem to be able to make a living there.
—Ingrid Vasquez, Peoplemag, 5 June 2024
As a young actor, Costner recalled working on fishing boats and driving trucks to make a living while auditioning.
—Brayden Garcia, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 13 June 2024
See all Example Sentences for make a living
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'make a living.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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“Make a living.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/make%20a%20living. Accessed 15 Jul. 2024.
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