survive

[ ser-vahyv ]

verb (used without object)

, sur·vived, sur·viv·ing.

1. 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.

   Synonyms: succeed, persist

2. to remain or continue in existence or use:

   Ancient farming methods still survive in the Middle East.

3. to get along or remain healthy, happy, and unaffected in spite of some occurrence:

   She's surviving after the divorce.

verb (used with object)

, sur·vived, sur·viv·ing.

1. to continue to live or exist after the death, cessation, or occurrence of:

   His wife survived him. He survived the operation.

2. to endure or live through (an affliction, adversity, misery, etc.):

   She's survived two divorces.

survive

/ səˈvaɪv /

verb

1. tr to live after the death of (another)

   he survived his wife by 12 years

2. to continue in existence or use after (a passage of time, an adversity, etc)
3. informal.
   to endure (something)

   I don't know how I survive such an awful job

Derived Forms

• surˈvivable, adjective
• surˌvivaˈbility, noun

Other Words From

• self-sur·viving adjective
• unsur·vived adjective
• unsur·viving adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of survive¹

First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English, from Middle French survivre, from Latin supervīvere, equivalent to super- super- + vīvere “to live”; sur- ¹, vivid

Word History and Origins

Origin of survive¹

C15: from Old French sourvivre, from Latin supervīvere, from super- + vīvere to live

Synonym Study

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.

Example Sentences

To survive, the miners and undocumented migrants go beneath the surface to escape poverty and dig up gold to sell it on the black market.

From BBC

By the next decade, Japanese flower farmers were growing them across the Southland; the species was able to survive on little water and stretched up to five feet tall.

From Los Angeles Times

And because the world, and one’s continued engagement with it, is a repeated litany of small erosions, it is through the practice of beauty that we learn to survive, to soar even.

From Los Angeles Times

“If there is a widespread lack of job security and huge pressure to survive... then society is bound to be full of problems, hostility and terror,” one user said on WeChat.

From BBC

The person said it was unclear if their mother would survive and that their father, who witnessed the attack, was devastated.

From BBC

Related Words

• bear
• endure
• exist
• get through
• handle
• keep
• last
• live
• recover
• remain
• ride out
• subsist
• suffer
• sustain
• weather
• withstand