endure

[en-door, -dyoor]

verb (used with object)

endured, enduring 

1. to hold out against; sustain without impairment or yielding; undergo.

   to endure great financial pressures with equanimity.

2. to bear without resistance or with patience; tolerate.

   I cannot endure your insults any longer.

   Synonyms: brook, suffer, support, stand

3. to admit of; allow; bear.

   His poetry is such that it will not endure a superficial reading.

verb (used without object)

endured, enduring 

1. to continue to exist; last.

   These words will endure as long as people live who love freedom.

   Synonyms: abide
   Antonyms: die, fail

2. to support adverse force or influence of any kind; suffer without yielding; suffer patiently.

   Even in the darkest ages humanity has endured.

3. 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.

endure

/ ɪnˈdjʊə /

verb

1. to undergo (hardship, strain, privation, etc) without yielding; bear

2. (tr) to permit or tolerate

3. (intr) to last or continue to exist

Other Word Forms

• endurer noun
• unendured adjective
• endurability noun
• endurable adjective
• endurably adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of endure¹

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”

Word History and Origins

Origin of endure¹

C14: from Old French endurer, from Latin indūrāre to harden, from dūrus hard

Synonym Study

See bear ¹. See continue.

Example Sentences

For Anisimova, the final was a chance to erase the humiliation she endured just two months ago on Wimbledon’s Centre Court.

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He attends to the racism of early leaders, but more enduring problems came with the growing importance of physical anthropology toward the end of the 19th century.

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Almost 1800 years after Rome’s founding, the people we call Byzantines still thought of themselves as part of the same enduring society.

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While Guy basks in professional success, Rosemary begins to wilt, enduring intense pain and flashbacks to a nightmare she had on the night of conception.

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It is good enough, wondrous enough, to endure.

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Related Words

• brave 
• encounter 
• experience 
• face 
• feel 
• go through 
• know 
• ride out 
• suffer 
• sustain 
• tolerate 
• undergo 
• weather 
• withstand