thrive
/θɹajv/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.73 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
1
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To grow or increase stature; to grow vigorously or luxuriantly; to enjoy a state of excellent health and well-being; to flourish.
Intransitive verb
Example Sentences
- "Not all animals thrive well in captivity."
- "to thrive upon hard work"
- "“It seems to me, reverend father,” said the knight, “that the small morsels which you eat, together with this holy, but somewhat thin beverage, have thriven with you marvellously.”"
- "So, on I went. I think I never saw / Such starved ignoble nature; nothing throve: / For flowers - as well expect a cedar grove!"
- "Dwarves had not passed that way for many years, but Gandalf had, and he knew how evil and danger had grown and thriven in the Wild, since the dragons had driven men from the lands, and the goblins had spread in secret after the battle of the Mines of Moria."
- "The growing things jumbled themselves together into a dense thicket; so tensely earnest were things about growing in Skedans that everything linked with everything else, hurrying to grow to the limit of its own capacity; weeds and weaklings alike throve in the rich moistness."
Etymology
From Middle English thryven, thriven, from Old Norse þrífa (“to seize, grasp, take hold, prosper”), from Proto-Germanic *þrībaną (“to seize, prosper”), from Proto-Indo-European *trep-, *terp- (“to satisfy, enjoy”). Cognate with Swedish trivas, Danish trives, Norwegian Bokmål trives.