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
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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
Beowulf vocabulary
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"The Constitution"
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Unit 1, Week 1
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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:
Tick populations rely on deer, dogs, mice, and even birds to survive, and pets are often on the front lines of tick infestations.
From Slate ● Aug. 6, 2026
But the research team say separate data shows the components of their vaccine also survive cycling between temperatures of -20C and +40C.
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026
If we are lucky enough to survive into our 20s, and have attained some degree of adult consciousness, we all will have lived a coming-of-age story.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026
But despite being an unsavory collection of criminals, Mr. Goode’s cast of characters could survive quite handsomely without gambling everything with each shipment of Fiji banded iguanas.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
If his plan worked -if the World Spirit answered his plea -the bear would be destroyed and the Forest would survive.
From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver
Its peppery bite survives the wait, while the leaves soften into the sauces rather than collapsing into wet ribbons.
From Salon ● Jul. 30, 2026
Its relative, Andrias japonicus, the Japanese giant salamander, still survives in rivers throughout the Ajimu region and elsewhere in Japan.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 24, 2026
Crucially, they can also make the room warmer or cooler, to see how the fridge survives in a warming world.
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026
The opinion insists that courts do more than identify a historical cousin to a modern law by examining whether the analogy survives scrutiny once its details are unpacked.
From Slate ● Jun. 26, 2026
He was reminded of words he had heard a few weeks ago, words that had a horrible and particular meaning to him: Neither can live while the other survives...
From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling
A female driver is dead but three passengers survived a vehicle going over the side of the road in the Angeles Crest Highway in La Cañada Flintridge on Wednesday evening, according to authorities.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
If any of these happened, the empire might have survived.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
But more than 20 charities in both countries have said the French-British deal inflicts "further harm on people who have already survived war, torture, persecution, violence, human trafficking, and a treacherous sea journey".
From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026
Until now, however, scientists have lacked a reliable way to determine how the remains of extinct megafauna and other animals accumulated, survived, and changed inside these submerged graveyards.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 4, 2026
Admiral Faucet maintained that no one could have survived the journey across the sea in that tattered balloon, especially a person with no balloon-flying experience.
From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood
Ian Driver, who runs Veterans Response and has been supporting Murray with food parcels, said the situation was "just wrong", with the veteran "surviving day to day".
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026
She said he had lost 11 of her 18 hectares in a wildfire, and didn't want to spend any money on harvesting surviving vines if the wine would be tainted.
From Barron's ● Aug. 6, 2026
Previous studies have indicated that cancer cells surviving chemotherapy may help drive recurrence by releasing a complicated mixture of signaling molecules.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 4, 2026
Whether you listen or not, here’s a quick primer on this brave new online ecosystem, and a practical guide for surviving it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 2, 2026
Exactly what happened next, as far as Galileo was concerned, has been a matter of dispute among historians, because there is some ambiguity in the surviving records.
From "The Scientists" by John Gribbin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
