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endure

American  
[en-door, -dyoor] / ɛnˈdʊər, -ˈdyʊər /

verb (used with object)

endures, present (3rd person singular) endured, past participle, past enduring present participle
  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)

endures, present (3rd person singular) endured, past participle, past enduring present participle
  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 British  
/ 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

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Synonym Usage

See bear 1. See continue.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

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”

Explanation

If something endures, it lasts: Beethoven's fame has endured for more than 200 years. But if you endure something, you suffer through it: We endured our teacher's slide shows of her vacation photographs. Notice above that something that endures can be good or bad. Something you endure is always bad. And people are forever talking about what they can't or won't endure, as in "I refuse to endure any more abuse from my neighbors." Endure derives from the Latin indūrāre "to make hard," formed from the prefix in- "against, into" plus dūrus "hard."

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Vocabulary lists containing endure

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.

"Savage Starlight" comics, with the catchphrase, "Endure and survive."

From Salon • Feb. 19, 2023

Namely: Endure the pain of a rebuild, and you’ll be rewarded multifold when we come out the other side.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 15, 2022

The Building America’s Stamina to Endure Boredom A Little Longer bill to distribute NoDoz during the late-innings parade of relief pitchers.

From Washington Post • Jul. 29, 2021

Hutchinson is the author of Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance, out this month from HarperCollins.

From The Verge • Feb. 18, 2018

Endure, my friends, and remain yet awhile, that we may know whether Calchas prophesies truly or not.

From The Iliad of Homer (1873) by Buckley, Theodore Alois

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