endure
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
to experience something painful or difficult for a long time without giving up.
to suffer through or tolerate a painful or difficult situation without yielding. Often used transitively with an object representing the hardship.
Simple“The hikers had to endure freezing temperatures and heavy rain for three days.”
In context“The prisoners of war were forced to endure months of isolation and physical deprivation before the diplomatic negotiations finally secured their release.”
UsageWhen used transitively, it takes a direct object representing the suffering or condition.
- 02 C1 Advanced
to continue to exist for a long time.
to remain in existence; to last or persist through time. This sense is typically intransitive.
Simple“The traditions of the village have endured for hundreds of years.”
In context“Despite the collapse of the empire, many of its legal principles have endured in the modern judicial systems of Europe.”
UsageUsually functions as an intransitive verb without a direct object.
“Shutting down the reactor posed immediate problems for Moldova, Romania’s eastern neighbour, which has also endured low river levels and relies on Romanian power to cover up to 60% of its own electricity shortages.”
“The club is said to have endured decades of disappointment after a 100-year hex was placed on its home ground in 1906.”
Etymology tree ▲ Proto-Indo-European *h₁en- Proto-Indo-European *h₁en- Proto-Indo-European *h₁én Proto-Italic *en Proto-Italic *en- Latin in- Proto-Italic *dūros Latin dūrūs Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Latin dūrō Latin indūrō Latin indūrāreder. Old French endurerbor. Middle English enduren English endure From Middle English enduren, from Old French endurer, from Latin indūrō (“to make hard”). Displaced Old English drēogan, which survives dialectally as dree. Doublet of dure.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.