live
1living
[only before noun] not dead or artificial [= living; ≠ 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.
According to Longman dictionary, I think that "
live" is interchangeable with "
living" for the same meaning. What do you native English speakers think? Thank you so much again and have a good day.
Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
Do they have the same meaning? Yes, it's pretty hard to dispute that. Can they be used interchangeably in all cases? I think not. However, in the cases where they aren't interchangeable, it more a question of accepted usage than right or wrong.
Some expressions are fixed by the professionals who deal in them. I think the examples containing "live births" and "live sheep" are examples of this, and to swap in the synonym creates some dissonance. A rail car with a sign marked "Living Sheep" would be grammatically okay, but a little creepy.
Similarly, a film entitled "Night of the Live Dead" would have difficulty drawing crowds at a horror film festival.
I think we can substitute one for the other in the third example without any problem.
One native (Canadian) English speaker's opinion.