endure

[ en-door, -dyoor ]

verb (used with object)

, en·dured, en·dur·ing.

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)

, en·dured, en·dur·ing.

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

Derived Forms

• enˈdurably, adverb
• enˈdurable, adjective
• enˌduraˈbility, noun

Other Words From

• en·durer noun
• unen·dured adjective

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

An essential conservative insight about everything is that nothing necessarily endures.

From Washington Post

The two endure a terrifying adventure where survival is never guaranteed.

From Washington Post

Since socializing in winter now requires us to endure frigid temperatures, at least in many parts of the country, a layer that won’t stay put just won’t do.

From Eater

More responsible leadership could have made an immense difference in the suffering and the death that America has endured.

From Vox

The reader must endure a slow start as various plotlines are established, but the pace quickens at the halfway mark.

From Washington Post

This is a degrading and shameful state which no man or woman should be forced to endure.

From The Daily Beast

But alas, a snub is yet another of the many indignities Valerie Cherish shall endure.

From The Daily Beast

Mary Soames is an exception to the rule that gilded offspring endure life rather than enjoy it.

From The Daily Beast

Some might lack the fortitude—or masochism—required to endure a grueling campaign (Rubio).

From The Daily Beast

“That was the first time I realized I would endure a lot of discrimination,” she says.

From The Daily Beast

But this alliance is rotten, and cannot endure; the Western men are no partizans of slavery.

From Project Gutenberg

Who could suppose that two tolerably civilized nations would endure this in the middle of 1851?

From Project Gutenberg

(b) All those who are under 20 and more than 50 years of age, and who are strong enough to endure the fatigue of a campaign.

From Project Gutenberg

Though built upon the sand, they still endured, and would continue to endure.

From Project Gutenberg

It is astonishing how much petting a big boy of ten can endure when he is quite sure that there is no one to laugh at him.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

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