To survive something is to live through it. You can survive a plane wreck. Or, if you survive a trying situation that never would have resulted in death, it’s a way of saying you got through something tough.
The verb survive is from the Latin word supervivere, “live beyond,” or “live longer than.” Originally to survive was used in the legal context as in “you survive your wife and therefore inherit her kingdom.” However, nowadays you might say that you were able to survive a holiday at your in-laws’, that your brother survived his first round of job interviews, or that you will never survive another all-day trip to the zoo in ninety degree heat.
