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
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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enduresimple
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enduressimple
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have enduredperfect
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has enduredperfect
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are enduringprogressive
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am enduringprogressive
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is enduringprogressive
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have been enduringperfect progressive
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has been enduringperfect progressive
Past
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enduredsimple
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had enduredperfect
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was enduringprogressive
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were enduringprogressive
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had been enduringperfect progressive
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.
She faced a tough choice: Endure homelessness as the war raged nearby or take the only way out — a long, circuitous and uncertain journey through Russia.
From Seattle Times • Jul. 10, 2023
"Savage Starlight" comics, with the catchphrase, "Endure and survive."
From Salon • Feb. 19, 2023
Endure long enough and all sorts of surprises await.
From New York Times • Jun. 3, 2022
It also resolves an issue that prevented the Endure Ash of War from activating, as well as a bug that caused players to die during a descent near Bestial Sanctum.
From The Verge • Mar. 23, 2022
Endure hardness as a good soldier, and shame their want of breeding by the perfection of yours.
From When Grandmamma Was New The Story of a Virginia Childhood by Harland, Marion
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.
