thrive
Americanverb (used without object)
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thrives,
present (3rd person singular)
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thrived,
past participle, past
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throve,
past (Archaic)
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thriven,
past participle (Archaic)
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thriving
present participle
verb phrase
verb
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to grow strongly and vigorously
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to do well; prosper
Usage
What does thrive mean? To thrive is to grow and develop strongly. This sense of the word can be applied to people as well as other living things, including animals and plants. Thrive can also mean to be successful, to be fulfilled, or to develop successfully. Both senses of thrive are often discussed alongside the specific conditions, environment, or situation that allow or help someone or something to thrive. For example, babies thrive in loving homes with the proper nutrition and care. Wild animals tend to thrive when their natural habitat is preserved. Plants thrive when they receive the right amount of sunlight and water. A person might begin to thrive in their career when they work at a place where their talents are appreciated and they’re given the freedom to try new things. The adjective thriving can be used to describe someone or something that is developing successfully or that is being successful. Example: Being around other creative people really helps my writing thrive.
Synonym Usage
See succeed.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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thrivesimple
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thrivessimple
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have thrivedperfect
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have thrivenperfect
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has thrivedperfect
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has thrivenperfect
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am thrivingprogressive
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are thrivingprogressive
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is thrivingprogressive
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have been thrivingperfect progressive
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has been thrivingperfect progressive
Past
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thrivedsimple
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throvesimple
-
had thrivedperfect
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had thrivenperfect
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was thrivingprogressive
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were thrivingprogressive
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had been thrivingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of thrive
First recorded in 1150–1200; Middle English thriven, from Old Norse thrīfast “to thrive,” reflexive of thrīfa “to grasp”
Explanation
To thrive is to do well or flourish. If your new cookie delivery business thrives, you'll be rolling in dough — not literally, of course. The verb thrive means to flourish or grow vigorously, and it can be applied to something like a business or to the health of someone or something. Plants can thrive in a greenhouse, and children can thrive if they eat well and exercise. To thrive on or in something can also be used more figuratively — people can thrive on music, listening to their favorite songs all day and others can thrive on art, visiting their favorite galleries and museums.
Vocabulary lists containing thrive
List 3
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The Balcony Scene from "Romeo and Juliet"
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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:
The area borders the vast Rose Atoll marine sanctuary, where endangered species of Hawksbill turtle thrive on vibrant reefs.
From Barron's ● Aug. 6, 2026
Before the fire, the area's remote location meant there was little disturbance from walkers and dogs, allowing wildlife to thrive.
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026
"We have to double our efforts to put our people in a position where they will not be displaced but actually thrive in this growing AI race."
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026
We cannot thrive without feeling like we are valued and part of a community—so much so that our mental and physical health suffer when that need isn’t met.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
Since they have no natural predators there, they thrive.
From "Because of Mr. Terupt" by Rob Buyea
Stacks of books, tables littered with essays and commentaries, piles of Jewish magazines—these Orthodox homes form one of the few demographics where the printed word still thrives.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 16, 2026
Being in a band was a natural fit for Wolfhard, who thrives in an ensemble where he can “hide behind the band name.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026
As a facultative anaerobic bacterium, it thrives in both oxygen rich and oxygen poor environments, allowing it to multiply inside the oxygen deprived regions commonly found within tumors.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 10, 2026
A man who thrives on proving the doubters and the critics wrong.
From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026
The market here thrives because most people did not have to leave their homes and are therefore already settled.
From "First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers" by Loung Ung
But in all likelihood they thrived and their wealth will contribute to the “Great Wealth Transfer.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
But Purohit took the letter to heart and moved her mom in, watching with relief as she thrived under Silverado’s specialized and attentive care.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026
The market for so-called GP-solutions providers has thrived during private-equity’s current downturn, which began when the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates in 2022.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026
She said her business has thrived because she knows “how to turn a pivot into a pirouette,” knows how to manage people and relationships, and has deep industry knowledge and connections.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 1, 2026
She had never been a good student, but now she thrived in the CAT classes.
From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson
Most of what we could call our charismatic megaflora was hauled in here from elsewhere, and it throve.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2021
Japan’s economy wilted while Germany’s throve, adding several hundred thousand clean-energy jobs—part of the energy transition’s net macroeconomic benefit.
From Forbes ● Jun. 28, 2014
It’s a reminder, however, that even in the most horrific of circumstances, something remarkable more than survived; it throve and grew and eventually reached around the Earth.
From Salon ● Dec. 26, 2013
The big western oil industry throve; deliveries in June stood 13% above the 1956 rate.
From Time Magazine Archive
Machiavelli, describing a turbulent period in the history of Florence, said: The people perished, but the brigands throve.
From Money: Speech of Hon. John P. Jones, of Nevada, On the Free Coinage of Silver; in the United States Senate, May 12 and 13, 1890 by Jones, John P. (John Percival)
In England, gorillas have recently lived and thriven amazingly because the keepers now put plate glass between them and the staring crowds.
From Time Magazine Archive
They have thriven well in Spanish soil, and harbour a colony of nightingales and other singing-birds, unusually numerous for this land of passion, where wines are rich and birds are rare.
From Southern Spain by Calvert, A. F. (Albert Frederick)
And the less their systems have rebelled against and have rejected, but, on the contrary, have conformed to and have thriven upon such brute-diet, the cruder are their organisations.
From Feminism and Sex-Extinction by Kenealy, Arabella
The magnitude of this difficulty only appears the greater when we turn from the forty-seven socialistic experiments which have failed to the seventy-two which have thriven.
From Contemporary Socialism by Rae, John
The traders of Holland and Zeeland had thriven mightily by the war.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 5 "Hinduism" to "Home, Earls of" by Various
Just 50 miles from the thriving Somerset grapevines, Phil Collins shows me a much sadder sight.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
“Every big city in America that is thriving has a thriving waterfront,” he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
GARY, Ind.—For decades, Gordon’s Department Store was a thriving commercial hub in this once-booming steel city.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
Baby Theo, who is now five months old and thriving, had gastroschisis, where the belly button does not develop properly, causing the intestines to grow externally.
From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026
Today I could not find my way around its newly built freeways, its thriving industrial complexes, its racially mixed, upscale suburban sprawl.
From "Warriors Don't Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock's Central High" by Melba Pattillo Beals
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.
