Clean-living
adj.resilient, thoughtfulwarm
What it means
Following habits intended to support health and socially responsible conduct.
Reach for it when describing a lifestyle built around healthful restraint
The clean-living runner protects sleep and avoids tobacco without judging her teammates.
Choose between these
6- everyday
habits support physical or mental wellbeing
not when Healthy is evidence-sensitive and says nothing about restraint from alcohol or drugs.
- warm
the lifestyle feels healthful and socially approved
not when Wholesome carries moral judgment and can sound prudish.
- professional
choices are made with health effects in mind
not when Awareness alone does not establish consistently health-supporting behavior.
- professional
sober
abstinence from intoxicants is the relevant fact
not when Sober should not be used as a broad moral ranking of someone's lifestyle.
- formal
deliberate moderation in food or drink is central
not when Abstemious is rare and narrower than an overall clean-living routine.
- literary
measured restraint across appetites suits elevated prose
not when Temperate sounds archaic and may suggest climate rather than conduct.
Said against
3- unhealthy
- self-destructive
- intemperate
It naturally appears in
3- clean-living athlete
The clean-living athlete still treated rest days as part of training.
- clean-living lifestyle
A clean-living lifestyle need not become a test of moral worth.
- clean-living habits
His clean-living habits included regular meals and an early bedtime.
Where this comes from
Cambridge includes both health and moral acceptability in this term. Use it cautiously because it can stigmatize illness, addiction, poverty, or culturally different habits.
- cambridge, adjective sense under clean living opens in a new tab · retrieved 2026-07-26
The definition and the example on this page are written here. The dictionaries above ground which meaning is being described, not the wording.