live without

live without

To survive or get by without something to which one is accustomed or feels dependent upon. Most of my friends can't imagine living without their phones, but I can go for days at a time without looking at mine. A: "You mean there won't be any Wi-Fi for the whole trip?" B: "Yep. We'll just have to live without for a week." People lived without television for most of human existence—I'm sure we can manage for a day or two.
See also: live, without
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

live without something

to survive, lacking something. I just know I can't live without my car. I am sure we can live without vegetables for a day or two.
See also: live, without
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • make do
  • without a second thought
  • within (one's) means
  • make shift
  • leave (one) to (one's) own devices
  • leave one to own devices
  • leave somebody to their own devices
  • leave someone to their own devices
  • leave to own devices
  • leave to someone's own devices
References in classic literature
Then Chee-Chee told them that in the Land of the White Men you could get nothing without money; you could DO nothing without money--that it was almost impossible to LIVE without money.
Story of Doctor Dolittle
But as there are many sorts of provision, so are the methods of living both of man and the brute creation very various; and as it is impossible to live without food, the difference in that particular makes the lives of animals so different from each other.
A Treatise on Government
No people could live without first valuing; if a people will maintain itself, however, it must not value as its neighbour valueth.
Thus Spake Zarathustra
But after spending two months alone in the country, he was convinced that this was not one of those passions of which he had had experience in his early youth; that this feeling gave him not an instant's rest; that he could not live without deciding the question, would she or would she not be his wife, and that his despair had arisen only from his own imaginings, that he had no sort of proof that he would be rejected.
Anna Karenina
But I could not live without horses, of course I couldn't, so I took to the hotels.
Black Beauty
"Think of your little woodland chalet, and your great old trees in the park,--you couldn't live without them.
Quest of the Golden Girl
Part of this sum I shall expend upon a half-pound of tobacco--for I cannot live without tobacco, and it is nine days since I last put a pipe into my mouth.
Poor Folk
"I don't understand it; I don't in the least understand why men can't live without wars.
War and Peace
I won't live without her, and she can't live without me; and that is how I come to be at Limmeridge House.
The Woman in White
He has maintained a regular, though not frequent, correspondence ever since: he hopes I am happy, and trusts I am not of those who live without God in the world, and only mind earthly things.
Jane Eyre
The actress took to social media to express her undying love for her husband Prince, pointing out that she has no reason to live without him.
Mercy Johnson Okojie, Family, Celebrates Wedding Anniversary
BLIZZARDS frontman Bressie said taking a break from the band showed him he can't live without them.
Band break did us good says Bressie
These people cannot live without being in government for ten months,' she said.
Former rulers acting like 'fish out of water', says Firdous
Findings of the 'Tracking SDG7: Energy Progress Report' show that if efforts flagged, there will still be 650 million people worldwide who will still live without electricity in 12 year's time.
Napocor sets bidding for 2 Bohol projects
A wise old man said 'the worms in the soil can live without man, but man can't live without the worms'.
Why we need farm animals