survivorship

[ ser-vahy-ver-ship ]

noun

1. the state of being a survivor.
2. Law. a right of a person to property on the death of another having a joint interest: in the case of more than two joint tenants, the property passes to successive survivors.

Word History and Origins

Origin of survivorship¹

First recorded in 1615–25; survivor + -ship

Example Sentences

“To correct for this, the couple could purchase the property with a deed that provisions that property is owned with a joint right of survivorship, which reproduces the automatic protection a married couple has when purchasing a property.”

From Salon

The welcome revival of interest in the paintings and sculptures of Gentileschi, Kahlo and Claudel since the 1970s and ’80s was led by second-wave feminists, and it represented an effort to transform victimhood into survivorship in the cultural sphere.

From Los Angeles Times

Myriam Gurba is the author of “Mean,” a ghostly memoir about survivorship that was selected as a New York Times Editors’ Choice.

From Los Angeles Times

Songs like "She Walks on Me" confront the violence and objectification faced by women, while also acknowledging the complexities of survivorship, as in the deployment of the lyric – eight times in a row, each one inflected just a little bit differently – that forms the album’s title during "Asking for It": “If you live through this with me / I swear that I would die for you.”

From Salon

“The survivorship is really just collecting the higher benefit, but that means you have to forgo the lower benefit,” Bunio says.

From Seattle Times