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
Related Words
Other Word Forms
- endurability noun
- endurable adjective
- endurably adverb
- endurer noun
- unendured adjective
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”
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.
Dog poo bags are not the only indignity the famous defensive frontier has to endure.
From BBC • Apr. 6, 2026
And these men were largely not actually given the public axe, and not made to endure the resulting public humiliation.
From Slate • Apr. 3, 2026
Western experts say such workers endure miserable living and working conditions, have their movements restricted and see most of their wages commandeered by the North Korean state.
From Barron's • Mar. 29, 2026
“I cannot bear the thought of another mother having to endure what I have,” she said.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 29, 2026
He could not stand his home, his job, the town itself—he could not endure, day in, day out, facing the scenes and the people he had known all his life.
From "Go Tell It on the Mountain" by James Baldwin
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.
