survive
[ ser-vahyv ]
/ sərˈvaɪv /
verb (used without object), sur·vived, sur·viv·ing.
to remain alive after the death of someone, the cessation of something, or the occurrence of some event; continue to live: Few survived after the holocaust.
to remain or continue in existence or use: Ancient farming methods still survive in the Middle East.
to get along or remain healthy, happy, and unaffected in spite of some occurrence: She's surviving after the divorce.
verb (used with object), sur·vived, sur·viv·ing.
to continue to live or exist after the death, cessation, or occurrence of: His wife survived him. He survived the operation.
to endure or live through (an affliction, adversity, misery, etc.): She's survived two divorces.
Nearby words
Origin of survive
SYNONYMS FOR survive
1 persist, succeed. Survive, outlive refer to remaining alive longer than someone else or after some event. Survive usually means to succeed in keeping alive against odds, to live after some event that has threatened one: to survive an automobile accident. It is also used of living longer than another person (usually a relative), but, today, mainly in the passive, as in the fixed expression: The deceased is survived by his wife and children. Outlive stresses capacity for endurance, the time element, and sometimes a sense of competition: He outlived all his enemies. It is also used, however, of a person or object that has lived or lasted beyond a certain point: He has outlived his usefulness.
Related formsself-sur·viv·ing, adjectiveun·sur·vived, adjectiveun·sur·viv·ing, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for survive
British Dictionary definitions for survive
survive
/ (səˈvaɪv) /
verb
(tr) to live after the death of (another)he survived his wife by 12 years
to continue in existence or use after (a passage of time, an adversity, etc)
informal to endure (something)I don't know how I survive such an awful job
Derived Formssurvivable, adjectivesurvivability, noun
Word Origin for survive
C15: from Old French sourvivre, from Latin supervīvere, from super- + vīvere to live
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for survive
survive
early 15c., "act or condition of one person outliving another," originally in the legal (inheritance) sense, from Anglo-French survivre, Old French souvivre, from Latin supervivere "live beyond, live longer than," from super "over, beyond" (see super-) + vivere "to live" (see vivid). Related: Survived; surviving.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper