survive
Americanverb (used without object)
-
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)
-
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.
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
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
-
survivabilitynoun
-
self-survivingadjective
-
survivableadjective
-
unsurvivedadjective
-
unsurvivingadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
survivesimple
-
survivessimple
-
have survivedperfect
-
has survivedperfect
-
am survivingprogressive
-
are survivingprogressive
-
is survivingprogressive
-
have been survivingperfect progressive
-
has been survivingperfect progressive
Past
-
survivedsimple
-
had survivedperfect
-
was survivingprogressive
-
were survivingprogressive
-
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
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
"The Constitution"
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Unit 1, Week 1
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
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 can say with absolute certainty that to raise creatures able to survive nature's harshness, they must be toughened up while growing up," Kinjo, 56, told AFP.
From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026
The plaintiffs’ claims “lack scientific merit and were sustained only by unreliable expert opinions that could not survive rigorous judicial review,” Erik Haas, Johnson & Johnson’s global vice president of litigation, said in a statement.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
She wished she could stay, but while the giant sequoias would survive if Morris swept through, she and Dodger definitely would not.
From "Two Degrees" by Alan Gratz
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
Crucially, they can also make the room warmer or cooler, to see how the fridge survives in a warming world.
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026
The opinion insists that courts do more than identify a historical cousin to a modern law by examining whether the analogy survives scrutiny once its details are unpacked.
From Slate ● Jun. 26, 2026
After dating for several years, in 1997 he married NBC-TV correspondent Andrea Mitchell, who survives him.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 22, 2026
This ancient lifeway survives today, according to this theory, in the ring-shaped compounds of the Yanomamo.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
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
“Anything that has survived the rotations will get highlighted.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
Jo Barnes describes how she and her family evacuated their home which has survived the fires.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
When he climbed the steep hill alongside the waterfall, he was amazed that he had traveled over this cataract when it was much mightier, and had survived.
From "Abel's Island" by William Steig
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 British heavyweight was fighting for the first time since surviving the December car crash in Nigeria that claimed the lives of his close friends Sina Ghami and Latif 'Latz' Ayodele.
From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2026
Two more friends die in battle during the 1948 war, and over time the once-close relationship between the surviving two becomes a lifeless artifact.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
Before Christmas, we continued our preparations as if every action, every minor addition to our stores might make the difference between surviving, and not; after Christmas, we waited.
From "Educated" by Tara Westover
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.
