Survive Means to Live Beyond
To survive is to remain alive through something. The Latin means to live beyond, and the word has a statistical trap attached.
To survive is to continue living, especially through danger. The Latin *supervivere* means to live beyond. The word carries a well-known statistical warning: *survivorship bias* is the error of studying only what survived — the buildings still standing, the companies still trading — and drawing confident conclusions from a sample with the failures removed.
- To remain alive. *All three survived.*
- To outlive someone. *She survived her husband by ten years.*
- To continue to exist. *The custom survives in the north.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Verb | survive | Survive the winter. |
| Past | survived | Survived the crash. |
| Noun | survival | Survival rates. |
| Person | survivor | A sole survivor. |
| Adjective | surviving | The surviving copy. |
How it is used in a sentence
- Only one manuscript survives.Objects survive too.
- Five-year survival has improved.Medical statistics.
- He is survived by two daughters.The obituary formula.
Survival words
- Survival rate — the proportion alive after a set period
- Survivorship bias — studying only what lasted
- Endure — continue through difficulty
- Outlive — live longer than someone
- Persist — continue existing, of things and habits
From Anglo-French *survivre*, from Latin *supervivere*, from *super*, beyond, and *vivere*, to live — the same verb as in *vivid*, *revive* and *vital*.
What is survivorship bias?
Drawing conclusions from a sample that excludes failures. Studying only successful businesses produces advice that ignores everyone who followed it and failed.
What does *is survived by* mean?
That the named relatives outlived the person. It is the standard obituary phrasing.