survivor
noun
Simple meaning
One who lives through affliction.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
servyverSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
sɚˈvaɪvɚ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
An animal that survives in spite of adversity
“Only the fittest animals were survivors of the cold winters.”
One who lives through affliction
“The survivors of the fire were taken to a hospital.”
One who survives, especially one who survives a traumatic experience.
One who outlives another
“He left his farm to his survivors.”
figuratively
A person who is able to endure hardship.
One who knew a specific decedent.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: An animal that survives in spite of adversity
Used this way, survivor is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
“Only the fittest animals were survivors of the cold winters.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Usage note
It most often appears in the pattern “survivor of …”, which is worth copying when you use it.
Natural pattern: survivor of …
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
How It’s Used
The word’s distinct uses, one example each.
Animalnoun
“Only the fittest animals were survivors of the cold winters.”
Livesnoun
“The survivors of the fire were taken to a hospital.”
Outlivesnoun
“He left his farm to his survivors.”
More ways to use survivor
- “The survivors of the fire were taken to a hospital.”noun
- “Only the fittest animals were survivors of the cold winters.”noun
- “He left his farm to his survivors.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A deep feeling of guilt often experienced by those who have survived some catastrophe that took the lives of many others.
Insurance paid to surviving spouses.
A shipwrecked person.
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Words can change meaning depending on context.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.