survive
Americanverb (used without object)
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survives,
present (3rd person singular)
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survived,
past participle, past
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surviving
present participle
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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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survives,
present (3rd person singular)
-
survived,
past participle, past
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surviving
present participle
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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:
Their main task is to survive and use their eyes and ears to spot Russian troops and vehicles—and to claim the territory as Ukraine’s by simply being there.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026
Tooth enamel is the hardest tissue in the body, and its proteins survive long after DNA has degraded beyond recovery.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 5, 2026
Secret police employed a total of 150,000 informants during these four decades, according to estimates from the state security archives, but records survive for only around a third of them.
From Barron's ● Nov. 4, 2026
Many of us are worried about how we will survive.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 4, 2026
Could men survive outside of the space capsule?
From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson
It is smaller than an atomic nucleus and survives for less than a billionth of a billionth of a second.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 31, 2026
The critically endangered subspecies, once found across the Middle East, Central Asia and India, now survives in very small numbers in Iran.
From Barron's ● Oct. 28, 2026
But when Grace survives an assassination attempt, Todd is genuinely shaken.
From Salon ● Oct. 22, 2026
The tax could be the first of its kind in the country — if it passes and survives legal challenges.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 20, 2026
No record survives of Tisquantum’s first journey across the Atlantic, but arithmetic gives some hint of the conditions in Hunt’s ship.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
Police had earlier told the family that no personal belongings had survived.
From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2026
However, officials acknowledged that some components might have survived the intense heat of re-entry.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 6, 2026
Noriko, you may remember, miraculously survived Godzilla’s rampage through Tokyo.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2026
Piker has survived his first hellish election cycle as a main character.
From Slate ● Nov. 4, 2026
“I wasn’t like that! Half of what Ty went through, he wouldn’t have survived without me! But he couldn’t be bothered to put that in his li’l books?”
From "The Manifestor Prophecy" by Angie Thomas
The surviving sisters explained that Nicole was diagnosed in 2022 with Stage 3 breast cancer.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 3, 2026
Something that is often overlooked: The surviving spouse may not have the same financial knowledge as the one who died, so planning for that scenario should also be a focus.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 2, 2026
She told the New York Times last month that the company’s CEO, Alejandro Betancourt, was behind “obscene corruption” and that under democracy she didn’t see the deal surviving.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 1, 2026
Forestry and Land Scotland staff who have been monitoring the site have recorded birch, rowan and willow regenerating from surviving stems and root systems.
From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2026
“Has your wife now any surviving relatives outside of the two children she has by you?”
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
