survivor
gb/sɚvˈaɪvɚ/ us/sɚvˈaɪvɚ/
B1
English
~ 9400
Senses
0 senses
Noun
B1
entity
1
person alive after danger
A person who stays alive after a very bad event like a crash, war, or disaster, when others may die.
Usage pattern:
a survivor of [an accident/war/disaster]
Common mistake:
Learners sometimes confuse 'survivor' with 'victim'. A 'victim' is someone who suffers harm, which can include people who die or live. A 'survivor' is specifically someone who stays alive after the event. For example, 'the survivors of the crash' are the people who did NOT die.
Synonyms
escapee (Suggests someone who got away from danger or captivity; does not always imply that others died.)
|
surviving victim (Stresses that the person was harmed but did not die; longer and more formal than 'survivor'.)
Antonyms
fatality (Refers to someone who died as a result of an accident, disaster, or attack.)
|
casualty (Often used for someone killed or seriously injured, contrasting with someone who survives unharmed.)
Collocations
war survivor
|accident survivor
|disaster survivor
|plane crash survivor
|Holocaust survivor
|survivor of domestic violence
Themes
health
|safety
|news
|conflict
|core_vocabulary
Examples
- Only one survivor was pulled from the wreckage of the plane.
- The earthquake survivors waited days for food and clean water.
- As a war survivor, he still finds loud noises frightening.
- Support groups were set up for survivors of the terrorist attack.
Learner examples
- She is the only survivor of the car crash.
- The storm was very bad, but many survivors were found.
- Survivors of the fire talked to the police.
- They built a shelter for survivors of the flood.
Noun
B2
entity
2
person alive after serious illness
A person who was very sick with a serious disease, like cancer, but is now alive and living after it.
Usage pattern:
a [disease] survivor
Common mistake:
Learners may say 'ex-cancer' or 'past cancer' instead of 'cancer survivor'. In English, the usual phrase is 'cancer survivor' to show that the person lived through and is living beyond the disease.
Synonyms
former patient (Neutral and factual; does not carry the proud or strong emotional meaning that 'survivor' often has.)
|
cancer patient (Focuses on the person being under treatment; does not express that the illness has been lived through or overcome.)
Antonyms
non-survivor (Technical or clinical term for someone who did not live through the illness or medical event.)
|
fatality (Used in statistics or reports to mean a death caused by a disease or medical event.)
Collocations
cancer survivor
|stroke survivor
|heart attack survivor
|survivor support group
|long-term survivor
|survivor network
Themes
health
|medicine
|emotions
|core_vocabulary
Examples
- As a breast cancer survivor, she volunteers at the hospital to help new patients.
- The conference brought together survivors of rare genetic diseases.
- He proudly calls himself an HIV survivor and speaks openly about his treatment.
- Many stroke survivors need long-term physical therapy.
Learner examples
- She is a cancer survivor and now feels strong.
- The group is for heart attack survivors.
- Doctors interviewed survivors of the new disease.
- As a survivor, he wants to help other sick people.
Noun
formal
C1
entity
3
person who outlives another
A person who lives longer than another person, usually a husband or wife, and may get that person’s money or house when they die.
Usage pattern:
the survivor of [someone]
Common mistake:
Learners often do not realize that 'survivor' in legal or formal writing can simply mean the person who lives longer than another, even if there was no accident or disaster. It is about who dies first and who dies later, not about a specific dramatic event.
Synonyms
widow (Specifically a woman whose husband has died; does not cover male or non-married partners.)
|
widower (Specifically a man whose wife has died; narrower than the general term 'survivor'.)
|
heir (Focuses on the person who receives property or a title, not only on the fact that they outlived someone.)
Antonyms
predeceased spouse (Formal term for the partner who died first, the opposite role of the survivor in legal documents.)
|
decedent (Legal term for the person who has died, as opposed to the person who survived them.)
Collocations
surviving spouse
|the surviving partner
|the survivor will inherit
|survivor benefits
|survivor pension
|rights of the survivor
Themes
law
|family
|finance
|relationships
Examples
- Under the will, the survivor of the marriage receives the entire estate.
- Survivors of the deceased employee may be eligible for company pension benefits.
- The contract stated that the survivor would remain in the house for life.
- In many systems, the surviving spouse has a legal right to part of the property.
Learner examples
- The survivor of the couple gets the house.
- The surviving spouse receives a monthly pension.
- His wife died first, so he is the survivor.
- The law protects the rights of the survivor.
Noun
B2
entity
4
person with strong will to cope
A person who does not give up and keeps going, even when life is very hard.
Usage pattern:
[someone] is a survivor
Common mistake:
Learners sometimes use 'survivor' only in life-or-death situations. In everyday English, it is also used metaphorically to describe someone’s strong personality: 'She’s a survivor' means she is very strong and does not give up, even if no one actually died.
Synonyms
fighter (Stresses active struggle and determination; often more emotional or informal than 'survivor'.)
|
battler (Informal; commonly used to describe someone who faces many problems and keeps trying.)
|
tough cookie (Very informal and idiomatic; emphasizes emotional toughness rather than simply staying alive.)
Antonyms
quitter (Informal; describes someone who gives up easily instead of continuing through difficulties.)
|
victim (In contrast to 'survivor', it can describe someone who feels powerless or stuck in their suffering.)
Collocations
a real survivor
|a born survivor
|a natural survivor
|emotional survivor
|tough survivor
|survivor mentality
Themes
personality
|emotions
|life
|core_vocabulary
Examples
- After everything she has been through, she’s a real survivor.
- He grew up in poverty and abuse, but he’s a born survivor.
- The documentary follows several emotional survivors of childhood trauma.
- You can see from his attitude that he’s a survivor, not a victim.
Learner examples
- She lost her job and her home, but she is a survivor.
- He is a survivor and never gives up.
- My grandmother is a real survivor; she lived through many hard years.
- They called him a born survivor after all his problems.
Noun
B2
entity
5
remaining thing from earlier time
An old thing, like a building or idea, that is still here when most other things like it are gone.
Usage pattern:
a survivor from [an earlier time/period]
Synonyms
relic (Often suggests something very old and sometimes outdated, but still remaining.)
|
remnant (Focuses on a small part that is left from something larger that used to exist.)
|
holdover (Informal; usually for a practice or thing that still exists from an earlier time, sometimes seen as old-fashioned.)
Antonyms
replacement (A new thing that takes the place of something older, rather than something that continues from the past.)
|
ruin (A destroyed or decayed structure, contrasting with a well-preserved 'survivor' from the same period.)
Collocations
one of the last survivors
|a rare survivor
|a Victorian survivor
|a survivor from the 19th century
|a survivor of the old system
|a lone survivor of that style
Themes
culture
|history
|objects
|arts_entertainment
|time
Examples
- The church is one of the last survivors of medieval architecture in the city.
- This old cinema is a rare survivor from the golden age of film.
- The custom is a survivor from an earlier, more traditional society.
- That policy is a curious survivor of the colonial era.
Learner examples
- The old bridge is a survivor from the 1800s.
- This song is a survivor of my parents’ youth.
- The small shop is a survivor in a street of big stores.
- That idea is a survivor from another time.
Grammar
Dictionary form
survivor
IPA
GB/sɚvˈaɪvɚ/
US/sɚvˈaɪvɚ/
Syllables & stress
sur - viv - or (3 syllables)
Stress on 1st syllable (sur)
Word forms
Noun
- Base: survivor
- Plural: survivors
Word family
Expressions
a real survivor
1/ə ɹˈil sɚvˈaɪvɚ/
fixed phrase
informal
person seen as very tough
Used to say that someone is very strong and does not give up, even when life is very hard.
Examples
- After losing her home and job, she proved she’s a real survivor.
- My grandfather is a real survivor; nothing seems to break him.
- You’re a real survivor to have made it through all of that.
born survivor
1/bˈɔɹn sɚvˈaɪvɚ/
fixed phrase
informal
naturally very tough person
A person who seems naturally very strong and good at staying alive and coping with problems.
Examples
- After everything he has faced, people call him a born survivor.
- She’s a born survivor with an incredible will to live.
- Even as a child, he looked like a born survivor.
survivor benefits
1/sɚvˈaɪvɚ bˈɛnəfɪts/
fixed phrase
technical
payments to relatives of the deceased
Money or support that is given to the husband, wife, children, or other family members after a person dies, usually from the government or a pension plan.
Examples
- His children receive survivor benefits from the government.
- The company’s pension plan includes survivor benefits for spouses.
- You may be eligible for survivor benefits if your partner has died.
survivor's guilt
1/sɚvˈaɪvɚz ɡˈɪlt/
fixed phrase
guilt about having survived
A strong sad feeling when you stay alive after an accident, war, or other event, but other people die, and you feel it is not fair that you lived.
Examples
- Many crash survivors struggle with survivor's guilt for years.
- He talked to a therapist to help with his survivor's guilt after the fire.
- Survivor's guilt is common among soldiers who return from war.
Cancer survivor
1/kˈænsɚ sɚvˈaɪvɚ/
fixed phrase
Person who has recovered from cancer
A person who has had cancer but is still alive after treatment.
Examples
- She is a proud cancer survivor who now helps others going through treatment.
- As a cancer survivor, she speaks at schools about early testing.
- The event honors cancer survivors and raises money for research.
- The charity offers free counseling to cancer survivors and their families.
- He proudly wore a T-shirt that said 'cancer survivor' at the event.
sole survivor
1/sˈoʊl sɚvˈaɪvɚ/
fixed phrase
Only person left alive
The only person still alive after something dangerous happened.
Examples
- He was the sole survivor of the shipwreck.
- He was the sole survivor of the mountain climbing accident.
- The film tells the story of a sole survivor in space.
- The sole survivor of the crash later told her story on television.
- Rescuers found one sole survivor trapped under the rubble.