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
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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:
Microsoft must demonstrate that Maia’s savings survive the costs of development, deployment and adapting software to run on it.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026
If America’s Western states can survive this crisis, the future isn’t as dry as it looks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
Then the people who leave feel like, ‘we had to do this, so that we can not only survive, but send money back to the island.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
The researchers developed a precisely defined mixture of chemicals that allowed GMPs to survive and multiply for extended periods in the laboratory.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2026
“If we’re going to survive this journey, we need a raft.”
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
And in the LLM era, human involvement remains a necessary failsafe—not just as an error-catcher, but to ensure meaning survives.
From Slate ● Oct. 16, 2026
For Harries, the plaque will ensure her story survives long after those who remember her are gone.
From BBC ● Oct. 16, 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
The Globe program applies to a small slice of medicines, but is expected to have far-reaching implications if it survives legal challenges and demonstrates cost savings.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026
Our family is poor and survives by farming a small plot of land.
From "First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers" by Loung Ung
"The only corals we have here now are the ones who survived this 38, 39 degrees."
From Barron's ● Oct. 17, 2026
They thought that once they survived the marathon of the regular season, the sprint of the postseason would play to their strengths.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
He is survived by children Saylor and Evan.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
The ship's wooden structure has not survived, but the ceramic storage pots it was carrying were lying on the sea floor and, remarkably, some still contain traces of what they held inside.
From BBC ● Oct. 14, 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
Because a survivor’s benefit is based on the deceased spouse’s claiming age, a delay by the higher earner also means a larger benefit for the surviving spouse.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026
Yet in the same interview, he gave credit for surviving his near-death experience in the Philippines: “It was just somebody up there.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
As for the surviving animals, they are being looked after at a snake farm in Germany.
From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026
Scientists suspect Vasuki may have hunted in a similar way, although its precise diet and hunting behavior cannot be determined from the surviving fossils.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 14, 2026
We do know that Brunelleschi, in his search for new architectural forms, had made a study of the surviving classical buildings in ancient Rome, a study which involved taking measurements and drawing plans and elevations.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
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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.
