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live [adjective] (AS IT HAPPENS)

(of a performance) broadcast, recorded, or seen while it is happening

US /laɪv/ 
UK /laɪv/ 
Example: 

This evening there will be a live broadcast of the debate.

Oxford Essential Dictionary

live

 adjective

1 not dead:
Have you ever touched a real live snake?

2 If a radio or television programme is live, you see or hear it at the same time as it happens:
The match is going out live on TV.

3 with electricity passing through it:
Don't touch that wire – it's live!

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English

II. live2 S3 W3 /laɪv/ BrE AmE adjective
[Word Family: verb: ↑live, ↑outlive, ↑relive, ↑liven, ↑up; adjective: ↑live, ↑lively, ↑living, ↑liveable; noun: ↑liveliness, ↑living, ↑livelihood; adverb: ↑live]
[Date: 1500-1600; Origin: alive]
1. LIVING [only before noun] not dead or artificial SYN living OPP dead:
experiments on live animals
Protesters want to stop the export of live sheep and cattle.
the number of live births per 1,000 population
We were so excited to see real live elephants.
2. TV/RADIO a live television or radio programme is seen or heard on television or radio at the same time as it is actually happening OPP prerecorded:
a live radio phone-in show
There will be live TV coverage of tonight’s big match.
3. MUSIC/THEATRE a live performance is one in which the entertainer performs for people who are watching, rather than a film, record etc:
A lot of the bars have live music.
The band will be giving a live concert performance next week.
We’ll be playing you a track from his new live album (=↑album that was recorded from a live performance).
It’s always different when you perform in front of a live audience (=an audience watching a live performance).
4. ELECTRICITY a wire or piece of equipment that is live has electricity flowing through it:
Be careful – those wires are live.
5. BOMBS a live bomb still has the power to explode because it has not been used:
They came across a field of live, unexploded mines.
6. BULLETS live bullets are real ones that are made of metal and can kill people OPP blank:
Troops fired live ammunition to disperse the crowd.
7. ISSUE a live subject or problem is one that still interests or worries people:
Drink-driving is still very much a live issue.
8. live coals pieces of coal that are burning:
She threw the paper onto the live coals.
9. YOGHURT live ↑yoghurt contains ↑bacteria that are still alive
III. live3 /laɪv/ BrE AmE adverb
[Word Family: verb: ↑live, ↑outlive, ↑relive, ↑liven, ↑up; adjective: ↑live, ↑lively, ↑living, ↑liveable; noun: ↑liveliness, ↑living, ↑livelihood; adverb: ↑live]
1. if something is broadcast live, it is broadcast on television or radio as it is actually happening ⇨ prerecorded:
The ceremony will be broadcast live on television.
The match will be shown live by the BBC.
2. if people perform live, they perform in front of people who have come to watch, rather than for a film, record etc:
I love their music, but I’ve never seen them perform live.
The band is playing live in Birmingham tonight.
Their latest CD was recorded live (=recorded at a live performance) in New York.
3. go live when a system or project goes live, people start to use it after it has been planned and discussed for a long time:
Their new information retrieval system went live last month.
a new security project which will go live in October

Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

▪ II. live 2 [live lives lived living] adjective, adverb   [laɪv]    [laɪv] 

see also  live1

adjective usually before noun  

NOT DEAD
1. living; not dead
live animals
the number of live births (= babies born alive)

• We saw a real live rattlesnake!  

 

NOT RECORDED

2. (of a broadcast) sent out while the event is actually happening, not recorded first and broadcast later

• live coverage of the World Cup

3. (of a performance) given or made when people are watching, not recorded
The club has live music most nights.
a live recording made at Wembley Arena
• the band's new live album

• It was the first interview I'd done in front of a live audience (= with people watching).  

 

ELECTRICITY

4. (of a wire or device) connected to a source of electrical power

• That terminal is live.  

 

BULLETS/MATCHES

5. still able to explode or light; ready for use

• live ammunition  

 

COALS

 

6. live coals are burning or are still hot and red  

YOGURT

7. live yogurt still contains the bacteria needed to turn milk into yogurt  

QUESTION/SUBJECT
8. of interest or importance at the present time

• Pollution is still very much a live issue.  

 

INTERNET

9. (of an electronic link) functioning correctly, so that it is connected to another document or page on the Internet
Here are some live links to other aviation-related web pages.  
Word Origin:
mid 16th cent. alive
 
Example Bank:
I can watch the games live on TV.
This programme comes to you live from the Albert Hall.
In those days the broadcasts all went out live.
Is the show live or recorded?
Later we'll talk live with the former New York police commissioner.
The CD was recorded live at a concert given last year.
The band have never played this song live before.
The game will be televised live this evening.
The new website is expected to go live in October.
The show was filmed live at the Arena.
The show will air live on June 10.
The trial was carried live on a Chicago radio station.
This concert comes to you live from Carnegie Hall.
We'll be reporting live from Beijing.
Customs officials seized 400 live snakes packed in crates.
I need to talk to a live person.
The victim's pockets were full of live ammunition.
• the number of live births

Idioms: go live  live wire 

Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary

live / laɪv / adjective (AS IT HAPPENS)

B1 (of a performance) broadcast, recorded, or seen while it is happening:

This evening there will be a live broadcast of the debate.

a live recording

 

live / laɪv / adjective [ before noun ] (HAVING LIFE)

having life:

Millions of live animals are shipped around the world each year.

There was a tank of live lobsters in the restaurant.

 

live / laɪv / adjective (ELECTRICITY)

(of a wire) carrying or charged with electricity:

a live wire

 

live / laɪv / adjective (ABLE TO EXPLODE)

able to explode:

live rounds of ammunition

live shells

 

live / laɪv / adjective (BURNING)

(of a fire, coals, or a match) still burning or able to burn:

There are live coals in the fireplace.

Collins Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary

live

I VERB USES
 

 lives, living, lived

 (Pronounced [lɪ̱v] in live 1, and [la͟ɪv] in live 2.)
 1) VERB If someone lives in a particular place or with a particular person, their home is in that place or with that person.
  [V adv/prep] She has lived here for 10 years...
  [V adv/prep] She always said I ought to live alone...
  [V adv/prep] Where do you live?...
  [V adv/prep] He still lives with his parents.
 2) VERB If you say that someone lives in particular circumstances or that they live a particular kind of life, you mean that they are in those circumstances or that they have that kind of life.
  [V adv/prep] We lived quite grandly...
  [V adv/prep] Compared to people living only a few generations ago, we have greater opportunities to have a good time...
  [V n] We can start living a normal life again now.
  [V-ing] ...the local support group for people living with HIV and AIDS.
 3) VERB If you say that someone lives for a particular thing, you mean that it is the most important thing in their life.
  [V for n] He lived for his work.
 4) VERB To live means to be alive. If someone lives to a particular age, they stay alive until they are that age.
  [V adv] He's got a terrible disease and will not live long...
  [V adv] A perennial is a plant that lives indefinitely...
  [V to-inf] He lived to be 103...
  [V to-inf] My father died nigh on ten years ago, but he lived to see his first grandson...
  [V to n] Matilda was born in northern Italy in 1046 and apparently lived to a ripe old age...
  [V-ing] The blue whale is the largest living thing on the planet...
  [V-ing] Ian was her only living relative.
 5) VERB: no cont If people live by doing a particular activity, they get the money, food, or clothing they need by doing that activity.
  [V by -ing/n] ...the last indigenous people to live by hunting...
  [V by -ing/n] These crimes were committed largely by professional criminals who lived by crime.
 6) VERB If you live by a particular rule, belief, or ideal, you behave in the way in which it says you should behave.
  [V by n] They live by the principle that we are here to add what we can to life, not to get what we want from it.
 7) VERB: no cont If a person or occasion lives in someone's mind or in history, they are remembered for a long time.
  [V with n] The memory of that will live with me for many years to come...
  [V in n] His name will live in history as one of the greatest bowlers of all time...
 PHRASAL VERB
 Live on means the same as live. Also V P V P in n Lenin lives on in the minds and hearts of millions of people.
 8) → See also living
 9) PHRASE: Vs inflect, PHR n (emphasis) If you say that someone lives and breathes a particular subject or activity, you are emphasizing that they are extremely enthusiastic about it.
  He has lived and breathed polo since he was seven.
 10) PHRASE: have inflects, usu PHR with cl If you tell someone that they haven't lived unless they experience a particular thing, you are telling them that thing is extremely good and should be experienced.
  If you have never been to an opera, you haven't lived...
  You haven't lived until you've used their new micro system.
 11) PHRASE: V inflects, usu PHR of -ing/n You can use expressions such as to live in fear and to live in terror to indicate that someone is always thinking about an unpleasant or frightening event, because they think that it might happen.
  One in 10 Californians is unemployed and thousands more live in fear of losing their jobs.
 12) CONVENTION You say live and let live as a way of saying that you should let other people behave in the way that they want to and not criticize them for behaving differently from you.
 13) PHRASE: V inflects If you live it up, you have a very enjoyable and exciting time, for example by going to lots of parties or going out drinking with friends. [INFORMAL]
  There is no reason why you couldn't live it up once in a while.
 14) to live hand to mouthsee hand
 to live a liesee lie
 to live beyond your meanssee means
 to live in sinsee sin
  Phrasal Verbs:
  - live down
  - live off
  - live on
  - live off
  - live on
  - live out
  - live through
  - live together
  - live up toII ADJECTIVE USES
 ♦♦♦

 (Pronounced [lɪ̱v] in live 1, and [la͟ɪv] in live 2.)
 1) ADJ: ADJ n Live animals or plants are alive, rather than being dead or artificial.
  ...a protest against the company's tests on live animals.
  ...baskets of live chickens.
  Ant:
  dead
 2) ADJ A live television or radio programme is one in which an event or performance is broadcast at exactly the same time as it happens, rather than being recorded first.
  Murray was a guest on a live radio show.
  ...we were laughing and gossiping, oblivious to the fact that we were on live TV...
  They watch all the live matches...
  A broadcast of the speech was heard in San Francisco, but it is not known if this was live.
  Ant:
  pre-recorded
 ADV: ADV after v
 Live is also an adverb. It was broadcast live in 50 countries... We'll be going live to Nottingham later in this bulletin.
 3) ADJ: usu ADJ n A live performance is given in front of an audience, rather than being recorded and then broadcast or shown in a film.
  The Rainbow has not hosted live music since the end of 1981...
  A live audience will pose the questions...
  The band was forced to cancel a string of live dates.
  Ant:
  recorded
 ADV: ADV after v
 Live is also an adverb. Kat Bjelland has been playing live with her new band.
 4) ADJ: usu ADJ n A live recording is a recording of a band playing at a concert, rather than in a studio.
  This is my favourite live album of all time...
  The LP features live recordings from the `Great Xpectations' all-day show.
 5) ADJ: usu ADJ n A live wire or piece of electrical equipment is directly connected to a source of electricity.
  The plug broke, exposing live wires...
  He warned others about the live electric cables as they climbed to safety.
 6) ADJ: usu ADJ n Live bullets are made of metal, rather than rubber or plastic, and are intended to kill people rather than injure them.
  They trained in the jungle using live ammunition.
 7) ADJ: usu ADJ n A live bomb or missile is one which has not yet exploded.
  A live bomb had earlier been defused.
 8) PHRASE: V inflects If a system, campaign, or other course of action goes live, it starts to be used. [mainly BRIT]
  The new system went live earlier this year...
  The service should go live this summer.
 9) PHRASE: PHR n You use real live to say that someone or something is present or exists, when you want to indicate that you think this is exciting and unusual or unexpected. [INFORMAL]
  He had never met a real live admiral...
  She has the best pet of all - a real live tiger.

Merriam-Webster's Advanced Learner's Dictionary

2live /ˈlaɪv/ adj
1 a always used before a noun : having life : living or alive
• They object to the use of live animals in scientific experiments.
• a live birth [=a birth of a living child or animal]
b informal : not imaginary : actually existing - used in the phrase real live
• Everyone was excited about seeing a real live celebrity. [=an actual celebrity]
2 a : done in front of an audience : of or involving a play, concert, etc., that is performed in front of people
• a nightclub with live music/entertainment
• The group has just released a live album. [=an album made by recording a performance before an audience]
b : watching a performance as it happens
• a television program filmed before a live (studio) audience
c : broadcast while a performance, event, etc., is happening : not recorded earlier
• a live television/radio program
• She was nervous about being interviewed on live radio.
• The network is providing live coverage of the debate.
3 : carrying an electric current : connected to electric power
• Use caution when you are working near live electrical wires.
• a live microphone
- see also live wire
4 always used before a noun
a : carrying a charge and capable of exploding or being shot
• a live bomb
live ammunition
• We had thought the guns were loaded with blanks, but the soldiers were actually shooting live bullets.
b : burning without a flame : glowing
live coals
5 : not yet decided or settled : still causing discussion, disagreement, or concern
• a live issue
• a live controversy
6 US sports : still in play
• The ball is live until it goes out of bounds.
7 Brit of yogurt : containing living bacteria
• We sell live yogurt.