survive
Americanverb (used without object)
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survives,
present (3rd person singular)
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survived,
past participle, past
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surviving
present participle
-
to remain alive after the death of someone, the cessation of something, or the occurrence of some event; continue to live.
Few survived after the holocaust.
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to remain or continue in existence or use.
Ancient farming methods still survive in the Middle East.
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to get along or remain healthy, happy, and unaffected in spite of some occurrence.
She's surviving after the divorce.
verb (used with object)
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survives,
present (3rd person singular)
-
survived,
past participle, past
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surviving
present participle
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to continue to live or exist after the death, cessation, or occurrence of.
His wife survived him. He survived the operation.
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to endure or live through (an affliction, adversity, misery, etc.).
She's survived two divorces.
verb
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(tr) to live after the death of (another)
he survived his wife by 12 years
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to continue in existence or use after (a passage of time, an adversity, etc)
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informal to endure (something)
I don't know how I survive such an awful job
Synonym Usage
Survive, outlive refer to remaining alive longer than someone else or after some event. Survive usually means to succeed in keeping alive against odds, to live after some event that has threatened one: to survive an automobile accident. It is also used of living longer than another person (usually a relative), but, today, mainly in the passive, as in the fixed expression: The deceased is survived by his wife and children. Outlive stresses capacity for endurance, the time element, and sometimes a sense of competition: He outlived all his enemies. It is also used, however, of a person or object that has lived or lasted beyond a certain point: He has outlived his usefulness.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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survivabilitynoun
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self-survivingadjective
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survivableadjective
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unsurvivedadjective
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unsurvivingadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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survivesimple
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survivessimple
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have survivedperfect
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has survivedperfect
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am survivingprogressive
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are survivingprogressive
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is survivingprogressive
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have been survivingperfect progressive
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has been survivingperfect progressive
Past
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survivedsimple
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had survivedperfect
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was survivingprogressive
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were survivingprogressive
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had been survivingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of survive
First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English, from Middle French survivre, from Latin supervīvere, equivalent to super- super- + vīvere “to live”; see sur- 1, vivid
Explanation
To survive something is to live through it or endure it. You can survive a car accident, or you can survive your little brother's four-hour violin recital. The verb survive is from the Latin word supervivere, “live beyond,” or “live longer than.” Originally to survive was used in the legal context as in “you survive your wife and therefore inherit her kingdom.” However, nowadays you might say that you were able to survive a holiday at your in-laws’, that your brother survived his first round of job interviews, or that you will never survive another all-day trip to the zoo in ninety degree heat.
Vocabulary lists containing survive
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"The Constitution"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Budget bills in Canada are confidence votes and last year Carney's government needed opposition support and abstentions to survive, but his Liberals have since secured a parliamentary majority.
From Barron's ● Nov. 5, 2026
Many of us are worried about how we will survive.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 4, 2026
It’s a song about growing up and realizing you need people around you to survive, but there’s no sense of anything at stake, nothing specific to make it stick.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 3, 2026
Some frogs may have been naturally capable of tolerating the infection, allowing them to survive even when the fungus was present.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 3, 2026
As I walk down the hall next to my best friend and Danny the Juice King, I’m thinking: If I can survive that, I can survive anything.
From "Popcorn" by Rob Harrell
The critically endangered subspecies, once found across the Middle East, Central Asia and India, now survives in very small numbers in Iran.
From Barron's ● Oct. 28, 2026
But when Grace survives an assassination attempt, Todd is genuinely shaken.
From Salon ● Oct. 22, 2026
The tax could be the first of its kind in the country — if it passes and survives legal challenges.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 20, 2026
Yet a similar techno-utopian pitch survives in today’s smart homes and domestic technologies, from assistants like Alexa to artificial intelligence marketed as a way to make life easier.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
“No one in my family actually survives his fifty-fifth birthday anyway.”
From "Native Speaker" by Chang-rae Lee
Piker has survived his first hellish election cycle as a main character.
From Slate ● Nov. 4, 2026
That increased tolerance could help explain why many populations have survived and rebounded despite continuing exposure to the pathogen.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 3, 2026
De Miguel is survived by his daughter, Carla de Miguel Fernandez, who was born in 2025.
From BBC ● Nov. 3, 2026
Rome's top official for cultural heritage, Claudio Parisi Presicce, called the work an "absolute masterpiece, perhaps the most important pictorial work to have survived from antiquity".
From Barron's ● Nov. 3, 2026
“Comfort, it’s a miracle you and Peach survived at all in that water—a miracle!”
From Each Little Bird That Sings by Deborah Wiles
O’Brien said investigators determined that the blazes were “actually one continuous fire,” with embers surviving in underground roots before powerful winds brought them back to the surface.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 4, 2026
The biggest is planning for a surviving spouse, who could face a smaller standard deduction, narrower tax brackets and higher Medicare premiums.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 2, 2026
She told the New York Times last month that the company’s CEO, Alejandro Betancourt, was behind “obscene corruption” and that under democracy she didn’t see the deal surviving.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 1, 2026
"If we fail to build this capability, surviving as a country in our region will become difficult. Countries with sufficient preparation are not easily defied," he said.
From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2026
Deprivation and hardship were just part of the job of exploring and surviving in the Brazilian wilderness.
From "Death on the River of Doubt" by Samantha Seiple
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
