thrive

verb

1. 1

   To grow or increase stature; to grow vigorously or luxuriantly; to enjoy a state of excellent health and well-being; to flourish.

   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!

2. 2

   To increase in wealth or success; to prosper, be profitable.

   Since expanding in June, the business has really thrived.

   […] Deliver me the key. Here do I choose, and thrive I as I may!

   On the Chickahominy, the Hazelwood brothers' fish house at Hicks Island and the Menzel brothers' fish house near the old shipyard thrived by serving local and distant markets. As late as 1977, a Publick Observer article boasted, "If you are served turtle soup in Atlanta or catfish in Ft. Wayne, Ind., chances are good that the main ingredients came from the waters of the James or the Chickahominy."

   Though they obviously realized that these episodes were part of something wonderful and important and lasting, the writers and producers couldn’t have imagined that 20 years later “Treehouse Of Horror” wouldn’t just survive; it’d thrive as one of the most talked-about and watched episodes of every season of The Simpsons.

Forms

past tense

throve, thrived

past participle

thriven, thrived

present participle

thriving

third person singular

thrives