survival
noun
sur·viv·al
sər-ˈvī-vəl 
often attributive
1
a
: the act or fact of living or continuing longer than another person or thing
b
: the continuation of life or existence
problems of survival in arctic conditions
2
: 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
Gay men were portrayed as both predators and prey, feeding into dangerous stereotypes at a time when the community was fighting for survival.
—
Matthew Carey, Deadline, 2 June 2026
Decisive to their survival was the no-name midfielder Sabatini plucked out of Brazil.
—James Horncastle, New York Times, 2 June 2026
That's a dramatically higher survival rate than was seen in West Africa in 2014, where only about half of patients walked out of treatment clinics.
—Jonathan Lambert, NPR, 2 June 2026
Those patients who took GLP-1s had a higher survival rate after 10 years and were less likely to have tumors return compared to non-users.
—Ken Alltucker, USA Today, 2 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for survival
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Matthew Carey, Deadline, 2 June 2026
Decisive to their survival was the no-name midfielder Sabatini plucked out of Brazil.
—James Horncastle, New York Times, 2 June 2026
That's a dramatically higher survival rate than was seen in West Africa in 2014, where only about half of patients walked out of treatment clinics.
—Jonathan Lambert, NPR, 2 June 2026
Those patients who took GLP-1s had a higher survival rate after 10 years and were less likely to have tumors return compared to non-users.
—Ken Alltucker, USA Today, 2 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for survival
Cite this Entry
“Survival.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/survival. Accessed 4 Jun. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
survival
noun
sur·viv·al
sər-ˈvī-vəl
1
: the act or fact of living or continuing longer than another person or thing
survival of half the population after the epidemic
2
: a continuation of life despite difficult conditions
skills for survival in the desert
3
: one that survives
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
