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.
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
Host Jeff Probst, contestant Benjamin ‘Coach’ Wade and others discuss why CBS’ competition show continues to endure after more than 25 years.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 26, 2026
“All I care about is what the health of the equity market is to endure this shock,” Lundgren said.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 24, 2026
“That cannot endure, that type of price differential,” said Jim Burkhard, S&P Global’s head of Crude Oil Research.
From Barron's • Mar. 24, 2026
Then, once you're an official couple like Lee Biggs and Michelle Tirley, you've got to endure her friends writing both your initials plus “4 ever” in arrowed hearts all over their rough books.
From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell
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.
