survival

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The act or process of surviving.
2. n. The fact of having survived.
3. n. Something, such as an ancient custom or belief, that has survived.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The act of surviving or outliving; a living beyond the life of another person; in general, the fact of living or existing longer than the persons, things, or circumstances which have formed the original and natural environment: often specifically applied to the case of a rite, habit, belief, or the like remaining in existence after what justified it has passed away.
2. n. One who or that which thus survives, outlives, or outlasts.
3. n. In biology, the fact of the continued existence of some forms of animal and vegetable life after the time when certain related forms have become extinct; also, the law or underlying principle of such continued existence, as by the process of natural selection: in either case more fully called survival of the fittest, and by implication noting the extinction of other organisms less fitted or unfit to survive the struggle for existence. Survival in this sense simply extends the ordinary application of the word from the individual organism to the species, genus, etc., and takes into account geological as well as historical times. See under selection and species.

Wiktionary

1. n. The fact or act of surviving; continued existence or life.
2. n. as a modifier Of, relating to or aiding survival.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A living or continuing longer than, or beyond the existence of, another person, thing, or event; an outliving.
2. n. (Arhæol. & Ethnol.) Any habit, usage, or belief, remaining from ancient times, the origin of which is often unknown, or imperfectly known.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a natural process resulting in the evolution of organisms best adapted to the environment
2. n. something that survives
3. n. a state of surviving; remaining alive