endure
Americanverb (used with object)
-
endures,
present (3rd person singular)
-
endured,
past participle, past
-
enduring
present participle
-
to hold out against; sustain without impairment or yielding; undergo.
to endure great financial pressures with equanimity.
-
to bear without resistance or with patience; tolerate.
I cannot endure your insults any longer.
-
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
-
to continue to exist; last.
These words will endure as long as people live who love freedom.
- Synonyms:
- abide
-
to support adverse force or influence of any kind; suffer without yielding; suffer patiently.
Even in the darkest ages humanity has endured.
-
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
-
to undergo (hardship, strain, privation, etc) without yielding; bear
-
(tr) to permit or tolerate
-
(intr) to last or continue to exist
Synonym Usage
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
enduresimple
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enduressimple
-
have enduredperfect
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has enduredperfect
-
am enduringprogressive
-
are enduringprogressive
-
is enduringprogressive
-
have been enduringperfect progressive
-
has been enduringperfect progressive
Past
-
enduredsimple
-
had enduredperfect
-
was enduringprogressive
-
were enduringprogressive
-
had been enduringperfect progressive
Future
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."
Vocabulary lists containing endure
Abraham Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address" (1863)
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List 5
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The Diary of Anne Frank
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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.
See Examples For:
If I—a single woman who lives alone and works from home—don’t have the luxury of me time, I cannot fathom what families, gig workers, and recent college graduates must endure.
From Slate ● Sep. 6, 2026
The characters seem to endure only to get to their next traumatic memory reveal.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
Refuseniks tended to lose their jobs and endure continual harassment—if not worse.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
Councillor Carragher has had to endure serious public allegations which the independent investigation has not upheld.
From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2026
“Will you be able to endure the discomfort? I hesitate to leave you.”
From "The Bletchley Riddle" by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin
"But it endures anyway as a tradition that forges character, one that sets us apart from other branches of the armed forces."
From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026
Whether parliament's new lexicon endures remains to be seen.
From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026
At last he gets home to his family with the trophy and, as he does, his story passes into immortality as the text of a civilization that endures for almost three millennia.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
I am their hero, and now I am fighting to make sure the positive and real image they know of me is the one that endures.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
Alyssa endures it, Garrett’s all smiles, and Henry remains all business, keeping his hands gripping the wheel at ten and two.
From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman
Grange said it could pave the way for a "long outstanding settlement for the hundreds of years of the most horrific abuse that our African ancestors endured".
From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2026
Americans are tough and have endured the hardship, and now, we’ll finally get our just deserts.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2026
Boeing shareholders have endured one setback after another since the stock peaked in 2019.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
Canadians have adjusted cheerfully to many decades of friendship, have welcomed booming trade partnerships and have endured Yank ignorance and condescension.
From Salon ● Aug. 31, 2026
In spite of the long ordeal she just endured, it feels like a sudden embrace.
From "A Heart in a Body in the World" by Deb Caletti
With no resolution in sight, how has this enduring trade war affected Canada and the US, and what could come next?
From BBC ● Aug. 31, 2026
Critic W. David Marx, looking to sum up the curiously stagnant opening decades of the 21st century, cribbed a phrase from one of its enduring icons for the title of his book “Blank Space.”
From Salon ● Aug. 29, 2026
Sehida Abdurahmanovic, a member of the main association of mothers in Srebrenica, said knowing he died suffering was some solace to victims' families, but his conviction was more enduring.
From Barron's ● Aug. 28, 2026
As for enduring monuments, Elvis fanatics have Graceland, Beatles obsessives have Abbey Road, but Dolly?
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026
Abel sat through it all, doodling in a notebook as if enduring a boring meeting.
From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin
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.
