Meaning & use
liveable
Last updated
Meanings
adjectivecomparable
Good enough or pleasant enough to live in, used of a home, a district or a city.
Grammar: Can come before a noun or after 'be': a liveable flat; the city is liveable.
Patterns
- a liveable city
- liveable for someone
After the repairs, the cottage was finally liveable, even if the kitchen was tiny.
The mayor wants to make the city more liveable by planting trees and widening pavements.
Rents are high, but the neighborhood is quiet and liveable.
adjectivecomparable
Possible to put up with; not pleasant but bearable.
Grammar: Often describes money or conditions: a liveable income.
Patterns
- liveable with something
The pay is modest, but it is a liveable wage if you share a flat.
Her new boss is demanding, though still liveable compared to the last one.
With a fan running, the summer heat in the attic was liveable.
Word forms
| comparative | more liveable |
|---|---|
| superlative | most liveable |
Common combinations
- liveable city
- Several rankings now name Vienna as the world's most liveable city.
- liveable wage
- Campaigners say workers need a liveable wage, not just the legal minimum.
- barely liveable
- The damp basement was barely liveable.
- perfectly liveable
- The house needs paint, but it is perfectly liveable.
- make something liveable
- A few lamps and rugs made the bare room liveable.
Synonyms and how they differ
- habitable
- It stresses that a building meets basic conditions for people to occupy it, so it is more technical than 'liveable'.
- bearable
- It focuses on whether a situation can be endured, and does not describe a place being pleasant to live in.
- tolerable
- It suggests something just acceptable and not good, so it sounds slightly more grudging than 'liveable'.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: liveable or lively?
liveable vs lively
'Lively' means full of energy and activity, as in a lively street. A liveable street is simply one that is comfortable to live on.
Practice
The flat is small and old, but with new windows it is quite ____.
Choose one answer.
'Liveable' means good enough to live in. 'Lively' means energetic, so it describes atmosphere and not whether a home is acceptable.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “liveable”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.