survived

survived — verb

1. to remain alive after going through a dangerous event, a serious illness, or ano

1.verbtransitive / intransitiveB1
Definition

to remain alive after going through a dangerous event, a serious illness, or another life-threatening experience

Example

Quan survived the earthquake because he was already outside when the shaking began.

survive + noun phrase (earthquake)

Only three of the twelve passengers survived the plane crash in the mountains.

Common collocations
  • survive a crash / accident / disaster
  • survive an illness / disease / cancer
  • survive a war / attack / explosion
  • survive against the odds
  • barely survive
  • survive intact
  • survive the winter / the night
Synonyms
  • live through

    more informal, emphasises the experience of passing through the event

  • come through

    informal, suggests the danger is completely over; often used with 'safely'

  • withstand

    more formal, emphasises resistance or endurance against something

  • endure

    focuses on suffering through hardship over time rather than the outcome

Antonyms
  • die

    the direct opposite — not continue living

  • perish

    more formal or literary, often with dramatic register

  • succumb

    formal; to die from a disease or injury, often despite efforts to survive

Grammar Patterns

survive + noun phrase (the accident, the illness, the war)

survive (intransitive — no object needed)

survive + through + noun phrase

survive + to + infinitive

Usage Note

Frequently used with nouns for dangerous situations (accident, crash, illness, disaster, attack, war). Can be used transitively (survived the surgery) or intransitively (The patient survived). Unlike the Chinese pattern 從…中倖存, do not add 'from' after survive.

Common Mistakes

He survived from the car accident.
He survived the car accident.
survive is a transitive verb in this sense and does not need 'from'.

2. to live longer than someone who has died, especially a relative, so that you rem

2.verbtransitiveB2
Definition

to live longer than someone who has died, especially a relative, so that you remain alive after they have passed away

Example

Christopher survived his older brother by nearly thirty years.

survive + person + by + time period

The grandmother survived her husband and lived alone for another twelve years.

Common collocations
  • survive one's spouse / husband / wife
  • survive one's parents / children
  • survive someone by years / decades
Synonyms
  • outlive

    more formal, commonly used in formal writing and statistics

  • outlast

    emphasises lasting beyond a limit or end point; can also apply to things

Antonyms
  • predecease

    formal opposite — to die before someone else

Grammar Patterns

survive + person (someone's spouse, parent, child)

survive + person + by + time period

Usage Note

The direct object must be a person (or group of people), typically a family member. This sense cannot be used intransitively — you must say who was survived. The time difference is introduced with 'by' (not 'for'): She survived her husband by ten years.

Common Mistakes

She survived for ten years her husband.
She survived her husband by ten years.
the time period comes after the person and uses 'by', not 'for'.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/1

All five words describe continuing to exist despite difficulty, but they differ in register and focus. Survive is the most general term — it simply means remaining alive after a threat has passed; it works in everyday speech and formal writing alike. Live through and come through are more informal and place the emphasis on the experience of the event itself: you live through a war or come through surgery. Withstand is more formal and stresses active resistance or the ability to endure pressure, often used with things (the building withstood the storm). Endure focuses on the prolonged suffering or hardship along the way rather than the final outcome: you endure years of pain but you survive cancer. In everyday use, survive is the safest choice for learners; use the others for a more precise tone.

survive ↗live throughcome through ↗withstand ↗endure ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

Prepositions

Etymology

LatinOld FrenchEnglish

Survive comes from Latin supervivere, formed from super- ('over, beyond') and vivere ('to live'). It passed through Old French survivre before entering English in the 1400s. The word originally carried the meaning of 'live on after an event' and quickly extended to both surviving danger and outliving people — a dual meaning it still has today.