survival

noun

sur·viv·al sər-ˈvī-vəl

often attributive

Synonyms of survival next

: the act or fact of living or continuing longer than another person or thing

: the continuation of life or existence

problems of survival in arctic conditions

: one that survives

Examples of survival in a Sentence

The refugees depend on foreign aid for their survival. Small businesses are fighting for survival. the survival of an old folktale

Recent Examples on the Web With no humanitarian aid reaching the area, this was the boy’s only shot at survival. —

Katharine Houreld, Washington Post, 26 Nov. 2023 Break gives Hamas time to prepare a new phase that aims to bog Israel down and create international pressure to end the war TEL AVIV—Hamas leaders are heading into a temporary cease-fire with a singular mission: survival. —

Dov Lieber, WSJ, 24 Nov. 2023 The screenplay wisely decides that survival is all that initially matters in long and dark days that begin to look brighter when Koichi lands a job on a mine-sweeping boat. —

Richard Kuipers, Variety, 22 Nov. 2023 As in any good soap opera, the characters themselves are the reason to keep watching, and their consistently questionable choices have taken on genuine thematic weight: the series has become a meditation on the price of survival. —

Inkoo Kang, The New Yorker, 21 Nov. 2023 But after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, Americans panicked, once again buying up food and survival gear, including Bushmaster guns. —

James Bandler, ProPublica, 21 Nov. 2023 Perhaps setting aside the past is impossible, however, when one people’s realization of its aspirations, and its sense of survival, mean the other people’s loss of roots and place. —

Emily Bazelon, New York Times, 20 Nov. 2023 At the same time, improvements in men’s survival rates for cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and respiratory disease, relative to women’s, kept the disparity from increasing more. —

Will Sullivan, Smithsonian Magazine, 17 Nov. 2023 But these accounts focus overwhelmingly on the socioeconomic factors underpinning Putin’s grip on power and overlook another key factor that helps explain the Russian leader’s survival: ideology. —

Maria Snegovaya, Foreign Affairs, 16 Nov. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'survival.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.