Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English.
1.
If you refer to the survival of something or someone, you mean that they manage to continue or exist in spite of difficult circumstances.
...companies which have been struggling for survival in the advancing recession...
Ask for the free booklet 'Debt: a Survival Guide'.
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2.
If you refer to the survival of a person or living thing, you mean that they live through a dangerous situation in which it was possible that they might die.
If cancers are spotted early there's a high chance of survival...
An animal's sense of smell is still crucial to its survival.
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3.
You can use the survival of the fittest to refer to a situation in which only the strongest people or things continue to live or be successful, while the others die or fail.
PHRASE