living statues

Meaning

1. 1nounplural

   Street performers who dress and paint themselves to look like statues and stay motionless until someone gives them money.

   Grammar: Plural of living statue; takes a plural verb: the living statues were popular.

   Patterns

   • living statues in somewhere

   Tourists stopped to photograph the living statues near the cathedral.

   The living statues froze whenever a crowd gathered.

   Two living statues dressed as golden angels stood on boxes by the fountain.

Word forms

Common combinations

street living statues

Street living statues earn tips by posing for photographs.

pose as living statues

The two students pose as living statues every weekend.

golden living statues

The golden living statues did not blink for ten minutes.

tip the living statues

Children were allowed to tip the living statues and watch them move.

Synonyms and how they differ

mime artists

Mime artists act out stories silently with movement, whereas living statues mainly stay still.

street performers

Street performers is a much broader term that covers musicians and jugglers as well as living statues.

human statues

Human statues means almost the same thing but sounds slightly less like a fixed performance category.

Word family

statue noun

a carved or cast figure of a person or animal

statuesque adjective

tall, graceful and still, like a statue

statuette noun

a small statue

living adjective

alive

Commonly confused: living statues or statute?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “living statues”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

Explore more words