Past tense of thrive
irregular verb
The past tense of thrive is throve or thrived. The past participle is thriven or thrived.
Forms of thrive
| Base form (V1) | thrive /θɹajv/ |
|---|---|
| Past tense (V2) | throve /θɹəʊv/ thrived |
| Past participle (V3) | thriven /ˈθɹɪ.vən/ thrived |
| Present participle | thriving /ˈθɹaɪ.vɪŋ/ |
| Third person singular | thrives |
Throve and thrived in a sentence
- Since expanding in June, the business has really thrived.
- 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.2009, Sara E. Lewis, James City County, page 77
- Old witches in the cities and country-side throve upon the sale of death spells and love philtres.1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 65. From the entry procuress
- Areca-nuts and betel-vines in inconsiderable quantities seem to have throve.2001, Hamlet Bareh, The Economy of Meghalaya: Tradition to Transition, Spectrum Publications, page 90. From the entry throve
- Spotted fever, yaws, typhus and trypanosomiasis throve here.1982, TC Boyle, Water Music, Penguin, published 2006, page 297. From the entry trypanosomiasis
Meaning of thrive
- verb To grow or increase stature; to grow vigorously or luxuriantly; to enjoy a state of excellent health and well-being; to flourish.
- verb To increase in wealth or success; to prosper, be profitable.
Verbs like thrive
Questions about the past tense of thrive
- What is the past tense of thrive?
- The past tense of thrive is throve or thrived.
- What is the past participle of thrive?
- The past participle of thrive is thriven or thrived.
- Is thrive a regular or irregular verb?
- Thrive is an irregular verb: its past tense is not formed with -ed.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: thrive (page history and authors) and the entries of its forms. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws left out forms marked obsolete, archaic, rare or dialectal and added the examples. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this page: “Past tense of thrive.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/past-tense/thrive. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.