Survive

Meaning

Survive means to continue to live or exist despite danger, illness, difficulty, or other circumstances that could cause harm or death.

Pronunciation

/səˈvaɪv/

Word Forms

• Base form: survive
• Past tense: survived
• Past participle: survived
• Present participle: surviving
• Noun: survival
• Adjective: surviving

Synonyms

Antonyms

Common Collocations

• survive a disaster — to remain alive after a serious disaster.
• survive an accident — to remain alive after an accident.
• survive a crisis — to continue successfully despite a difficult situation.
• survive in difficult conditions — to continue living or functioning despite hardship.
• survive without something — to continue living or functioning without something considered useful or necessary.
• survive the experience — to get through a difficult or unpleasant experience.

Example Sentences

• Only a few people survived the accident.
• The plants managed to survive the extremely cold winter.
• She survived several difficult years before her life finally changed.
• Some animals can survive without food for long periods.
• The company survived the financial crisis despite losing most of its customers.

Literary Example

Example:

“Because one did survive the wreck.”

— Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale

Here, survive means to remain alive after a dangerous or destructive event. Ishmael is explaining that, although the shipwreck claimed the lives of everyone else aboard the Pequod, he survived the disaster and lived to tell the story.

Story Workshop

This word has not yet appeared in a Story Workshop story. When it does, this section will link directly to the story and highlight the paragraph where the word appears, allowing you to see it used naturally in context.

Coming Soon...

Related Words

Continue exploring words that begin with the letter S.

Navigate the Archive