According to you what is living? The first thing that comes to our mind is to grow? The increase in mass and number is said to grow but is it true? Do non-living don't grow? Imagine an old mountain that is growing but due to the accumulation of soil and mud on it but that grow is also termed as grow so grow cannot be defining a feature of growing.
The second thing that comes to our mind while defining living is the reproduction but it is true? Have you seen the sterile bee and that infertile human couple, are they living of course yes. Therefore reproduction cannot be the defining feature of living.
Metabolism can also be considered the defining feature as metabolism is not performed by non-living things. So yes it can be considered as living. Invitro isolate a metabolism activity in a test tube, guess whether it is living or not? It is not a living or non-living but it is surely a living reaction.