Weather the storm means to get through a difficult period without giving up. It describes a person, a family or a company that went through a crisis and survived. Here weather is a verb meaning to come safely through something hard, not the noun for rain and sunshine. The expression is neutral: it often appears in the news and works well in an essay.
When would you say weather the storm?
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weather the storm; weather + a/the crisis/recession; help someone weather the storm
- Many small cafés weathered the storm by selling takeaway coffee during the lockdown.
- Our team lost two key people this year, but we weathered the storm together.
- Savings make it easier to weather the storm if you suddenly lose your job.
What changed
First versionOur small shop outlived the storm because loyal customers kept coming.
RevisionOur small shop weathered the storm because loyal customers kept coming.
Outlive means to live or last longer than someone or something, as in outlive your parents. It doesn't describe coping with hard times. For a crisis you need weather the storm, so the verb was replaced.
A storm in a teacup is a lot of fuss about something unimportant: Their argument was a storm in a teacup. Weather the storm is about real difficulties that you managed to get through. A close synonym is ride out the storm: We rode out the storm and kept all our staff.
Your turn
The hotel lost most of its guests during the pandemic, but it ___ the storm and reopened last spring.
Show the answer
weathered — The hotel got through a very hard period and reopened, so it held on: weathered the storm. Outlived means lived longer than someone, and it isn't the verb for coming through a crisis.
Write about a difficult period that you, your family or your company went through. Say what was hard and what helped you get through it.
When my father lost his job, our family weathered the storm because my mother took extra shifts and we stopped eating out.
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