Meaning & use
survivals
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“survivals” is a form of “survival”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meanings
nounplural
Customs, beliefs or objects that have lasted from an earlier time and still exist, though their original reason may have faded.
Grammar: Plural of survival; often followed by of or from: survivals of older rites.
Patterns
- survivals of something
- survivals from something
Folklorists study the harvest festival as one of many survivals of pre-Christian ritual.
Some place names are survivals from the language spoken here a thousand years ago.
The historian pointed to odd survivals of feudal law in the village rules.
nounplural
Cases in which a person or creature manages to live through danger, illness or disaster.
Grammar: Countable plural, used for counting instances: ten survivals among forty patients.
Patterns
- survivals after something
The hospital recorded unexpected survivals among the most severe cases.
There were only two survivals from the crash, and doctors called both miraculous.
Researchers compared the survivals of each group of seedlings after the frost.
Common combinations
- survivals of ancient customs
- The festival includes survivals of ancient customs.
- cultural survivals
- Cultural survivals can reveal how earlier societies lived.
- rare survivals
- Wooden buildings of that age are rare survivals.
- unexpected survivals
- The ward saw several unexpected survivals last winter.
Synonyms and how they differ
- relics
- Relics are objects or traces kept from the past, often treasured, while survivals suggest customs still alive.
- remnants
- Remnants are leftover pieces of something that has largely gone, with less sense of continuing practice.
- vestiges
- Vestiges are faint traces of something almost vanished, and sound more formal than survivals.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: survivals or survivors?
survivals vs survivors
Survivors are people who lived through an event, whereas survivals are the cases or the lasting customs themselves.
Practice
The anthropologist described the dance as one of several ___ of an older religion.
Choose one answer.
Survivals names customs that have lasted from the past. Survivors are people, survivable is an adjective, and survives is a verb.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “survivals”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.