endure
Americanverb (used with object)
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to hold out against; sustain without impairment or yielding; undergo.
to endure great financial pressures with equanimity.
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to bear without resistance or with patience; tolerate.
I cannot endure your insults any longer.
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to admit of; allow; bear.
His poetry is such that it will not endure a superficial reading.
verb (used without object)
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to continue to exist; last.
These words will endure as long as people live who love freedom.
- Synonyms:
- abide
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to support adverse force or influence of any kind; suffer without yielding; suffer patiently.
Even in the darkest ages humanity has endured.
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to have or gain continued or lasting acknowledgment or recognition, as of worth, merit or greatness.
His plays have endured for more than three centuries.
verb
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to undergo (hardship, strain, privation, etc) without yielding; bear
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(tr) to permit or tolerate
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(intr) to last or continue to exist
Synonym Usage
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
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has enduredperfect 3rd person singular
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have enduredperfect
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am enduringprogressive 1st person singular
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have been enduringperfect progressive
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is enduringprogressive 3rd person singular
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enduringparticiple
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are enduringprogressive
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has been enduringperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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enduressingular 3rd person
Past
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had enduredperfect
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had been enduringperfect progressive
-
enduredparticiple
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were enduringprogressive plural
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was enduringprogressive singular
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enduredsimple
Future
Etymology
Origin of endure
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English enduren, from Anglo-French, Old French endurer, from Latin indūrāre “to harden, make lasting,” equivalent to in- in- 2 + dūrāre “to last, be or become hard,” derivative of dūrus “hard”
Explanation
If something endures, it lasts: Beethoven's fame has endured for more than 200 years. But if you endure something, you suffer through it: We endured our teacher's slide shows of her vacation photographs. Notice above that something that endures can be good or bad. Something you endure is always bad. And people are forever talking about what they can't or won't endure, as in "I refuse to endure any more abuse from my neighbors." Endure derives from the Latin indūrāre "to make hard," formed from the prefix in- "against, into" plus dūrus "hard."
Vocabulary lists containing endure
Abraham Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address" (1863)
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List 5
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The Diary of Anne Frank
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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.
In this context, “timeless” means that the universe itself does not endure or unfold in any real sense.
From Science Daily • Jun. 8, 2026
Thrust into a position that was not his, Bradley had to endure the jeers of frenzied aficionados at the start of his professional career, along with spitting and tossed coins.
From Barron's • Jun. 8, 2026
Without that lifeline, public transportation has been curtailed, farmers struggle to get produce to market and residents endure hourslong blackouts.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 6, 2026
It is one that will endure after my death.
From Salon • Jun. 1, 2026
Even the brief carriage ride between Ford’s and the White House over unpaved, muddy streets, gouged with ruts and tracks from hundreds of carriage wheels, would be too much for Lincoln to endure.
From "Chasing Lincoln's Killer" by James L. Swanson
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.
