Survive Definition & Meaning

American

British

Related Words

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Examples

Related Words

Synonyms survive American [ser-vahyv] / sərˈvaɪv /

verb (used without object)

survived, surviving

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)

survived, surviving

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 British / 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

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Related Words

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

• self-surviving adjective
• survivability noun
• survivable adjective
• unsurvived adjective
• unsurviving adjective

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”; sur- 1, vivid

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.

According to the authors, microorganisms can survive more extreme conditions than previously thought, including launch across space after major impacts, and life may be able to move between planets.

From Science Daily

If the surviving spouse is living in the home but doesn’t actually own it, the life-estate deed or prenup needs to clearly reflect who owns the property.

From MarketWatch

The device converts light into electrical signals that stimulate surviving retinal cells.

From Science Daily

People with T1D must closely monitor their glucose and rely on insulin injections to survive.

From Science Daily

Specialists in zoology, ecology, and botany worked together to uncover how different species manage to survive there.

From Science Daily

Related Words

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

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.