survive
Americanverb (used without object)
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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.
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to remain or continue in existence or use.
Ancient farming methods still survive in the Middle East.
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to get along or remain healthy, happy, and unaffected in spite of some occurrence.
She's surviving after the divorce.
verb (used with object)
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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.
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to endure or live through (an affliction, adversity, misery, etc.).
She's survived two divorces.
verb
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(tr) to live after the death of (another)
he survived his wife by 12 years
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to continue in existence or use after (a passage of time, an adversity, etc)
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informal to endure (something)
I don't know how I survive such an awful job
Synonym Usage
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.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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survivabilitynoun
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self-survivingadjective
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survivableadjective
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unsurvivedadjective
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unsurvivingadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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survivesimple
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survivessimple
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have survivedperfect
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has survivedperfect
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am survivingprogressive
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are survivingprogressive
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is survivingprogressive
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have been survivingperfect progressive
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has been survivingperfect progressive
Past
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survivedsimple
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had survivedperfect
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was survivingprogressive
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were survivingprogressive
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had been survivingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of survive
First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English, from Middle French survivre, from Latin supervīvere, equivalent to super- super- + vīvere “to live”; see sur- 1, vivid
Explanation
To survive something is to live through it or endure it. You can survive a car accident, or you can survive your little brother's four-hour violin recital. The verb survive is from the Latin word supervivere, “live beyond,” or “live longer than.” Originally to survive was used in the legal context as in “you survive your wife and therefore inherit her kingdom.” However, nowadays you might say that you were able to survive a holiday at your in-laws’, that your brother survived his first round of job interviews, or that you will never survive another all-day trip to the zoo in ninety degree heat.
Vocabulary lists containing survive
Beowulf vocabulary
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"The Constitution"
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Unit 1, Week 1
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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:
But I’ve seen healthcare powers of attorney activated, decisions made, and the parents survive — and be surprised by the decisions that were made.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 29, 2026
To survive, they’ve had to connect with groups that have almost incomprehensibly different motivations.
From Slate ● Jul. 29, 2026
And not just any shark, a mondo, super-hangry bull shark that’s able to survive in salt and fresh water.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026
"I think in the festival business in the UK... we've a lot more festivals than any country, I think per head of population, so it is tougher to survive."
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
Surely even an undead creature couldn’t survive a raging fire.
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
The clause survives as decoration: incorporated, venerated, and incapable of stopping a single seizure.
From Slate ● Jul. 28, 2026
Its relative, Andrias japonicus, the Japanese giant salamander, still survives in rivers throughout the Ajimu region and elsewhere in Japan.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 24, 2026
"The UK survives on frozen food, it's a big industry," he explains.
From BBC ● Jun. 26, 2026
A stubborn idealism survives the many horrors the novel describes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
"When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives," he said.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
Many of the prisoners had been captured more than two years earlier when the Japanese first invaded the Philippines and had survived the infamous Bataan Death March.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
He eventually succeeded by exposing corals to strong UV rays and other stressors to create extremely resilient organisms that even survived the 2024 bleaching unscathed.
From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026
He survived on oatmeal along with fish and squid that landed on the boat.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
This prehistoric creature has survived ice ages, the asteroid impact that killed the dinosaurs, and continental drift.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
In the distance, electric light glowed from the windows of the tall condos that had survived the hurricane.
From "Two Degrees" by Alan Gratz
Eston’s decision led to estrangement from his brother Madison, the only one of the four surviving Jefferson-Hemings offspring to remain in the Black community.
From Salon ● Jul. 27, 2026
Slate spoke with a number of surviving family members of some of the martyrs of the Civil Rights Movement, all of whom were devastated by the court’s Callais ruling.
From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2026
The two-time world champion has not fought since surviving the car crash in Nigeria last December that claimed the lives of close friends Sina Ghami and Latif "Latz" Ayodele.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
From the earliest texts through the era of the printing press, there is more surviving material in any given language than anyone could ever read.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
The oldest surviving art objects are sculptures made from bone, ivory, stone, or antlers.
From "The Annotated Mona Lisa" by Carol Strickland and John Boswell
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.
