survive
Americanverb (used without object)
-
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.
-
to remain or continue in existence or use.
Ancient farming methods still survive in the Middle East.
-
to get along or remain healthy, happy, and unaffected in spite of some occurrence.
She's surviving after the divorce.
verb (used with object)
-
to continue to live or exist after the death, cessation, or occurrence of.
His wife survived him. He survived the operation.
-
to endure or live through (an affliction, adversity, misery, etc.).
She's survived two divorces.
verb
-
(tr) to live after the death of (another)
he survived his wife by 12 years
-
to continue in existence or use after (a passage of time, an adversity, etc)
-
informal to endure (something)
I don't know how I survive such an awful job
Related Words
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
- self-surviving adjective
- survivability noun
- survivable adjective
- unsurvived adjective
- unsurviving adjective
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”; sur- 1, vivid
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.
When Conan crashed over and survived another TMO check early in the second half, Ireland threatened to pull away from Wales, but the visitors refused to wilt.
From BBC
We could survive on short rations—or on none at all—for weeks if we had to.
From Literature
Apple almost immediately introduced the bulbous and translucent iMac, a hit product that gave the company the necessary cash flow to survive until he could transform the entire business.
Prokopiou’s LNG company chartered two floating import terminals to Germany when Europe’s largest economy was racing to build infrastructure so it could survive without Russian gas.
By Your Side follows Linda Standish, a council worker in the unclaimed heirs unit who investigates the lives of people who have died alone and attempts to track down any surviving relatives.
From BBC
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.
