survive
[ser-vahyv]
- 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.
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- 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.
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Origin of survive
Synonyms
See more synonyms for survive on Thesaurus.com1. 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.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for survived
Contemporary Examples
Drugeon survived an airstrike last year and is believed to be still at large, officials have said.
The follow-up story is how those who survived both the competitive onslaught, as well as the recession, have adapted.
Still, a handful of centuries-old establishments have survived and housed some pretty phenomenal history.
He spent 47 days on a raft and survived only to be captured by the Japanese.
Craig-Lewis is survived by two children, a 16-year old son and a 16-month old daughter.
Historical Examples
But she knew that she had survived them, that some great calamity had fallen upon and destroyed them.
Green MansionsW. H. Hudson
Thacher was Avery's companion and survived to tell the tale.
The Works of Whittier, Volume I (of VII)John Greenleaf Whittier
Its effects were, however, beneficial to the villagers who survived.
English VillagesP. H. Ditchfield
By this traffic Germany had survived for a century and a half.
City of Endless NightMilo Hastings
Hilary Grendon was a methodical man: that was the reason he had survived.
Slaves of MercuryNat Schachner
survive
- (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
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Word Origin
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
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for survived
survive
v.
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.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper