cost of living

See synonyms for cost of living on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. the average cost of food, clothing, and other necessary or usual goods and services paid by a person, family, etc., or considered as a standard by the members of a group.

Origin of cost of living

1
First recorded in 1895–1900

Other words from cost of living

  • cost-of-living, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use cost of living in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for cost of living

cost of living

noun
    • the basic cost of the food, clothing, shelter, and fuel necessary to maintain life, esp at a standard regarded as basic or minimal

    • (as modifier): the cost-of-living index

  1. the average expenditure of a person or family in a given period

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for cost of living

cost of living

The average cost of the basic necessities of life, including food, shelter, and clothing.

Notes for cost of living

In the United States, the cost of living is monitored in the consumer price index (formerly called the cost-of-living index), published monthly by the federal government.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.