continue to live and avoid dying
"We went without water and food for 3 days"
"These superstitions survive in the backwaters of America"
"The race car driver lived through several very serious accidents"
"how long can a person last without food and water?"
"One crash victim died, the other lived"
continue in existence after (an adversity, etc.)
"He survived the cancer against all odds"
Of a person, to continue to live; to remain alive.
"After the car accident, it was a miracle that she survived and woke up in the hospital."
In plain English: To survive means to stay alive and keep going even when things are very hard or dangerous.
"The cat managed to survive the long car ride without getting sick."
Usage: Use survive when someone remains alive after an accident or illness, but switch to outlive if referring to living longer than another specific person. Do not use it for enduring difficult situations without dying, as that requires surviving the event itself rather than simply continuing life afterward.
The word survive entered English via the Anglo-Norman and Old French forms of survivre, which originally meant "to outlive." It is built from Latin roots meaning "over" and "to live," describing someone who remains alive after another person has died or a danger has passed.