throve
- 1Past tense of thrive.
The young colony throve despite the harsh first winter.
Her small bakery throve once word of the recipes spread.
Note
The older, strong past of thrive follows the pattern of drive and drove or strive and strove, and it still competes with the regular thrived. Like its verb, it takes no object, and it covers both flourishing growth and prosperity: Harriet W. Daly's melons and pumpkins "throve well on a sandy patch" in 1887. In current writing it sounds deliberate and old-fashioned, while thrived is the unmarked choice.
- 2Past participle of thrive. Nonstandard: the usual forms are thrived and thriven.
The business had throve for a decade before the new competitor arrived.
She noted how the orchard had throve since the irrigation channels were dug.
Note
Here the strong form has moved into a slot it does not standardly fill. After have, careful usage wants thrived or thriven. Still, the construction has a long history. The Gentleman's Magazine of 1802 has poplars that "have throve the better for a pretty free trimming," and Hamlet Bareh still writes "seem to have throve" in 2001. For formal writing, keep it to the simple past.
Use it in a sentence
Write your own sentence with throve, and AI will tell you whether it fits and which meaning you used.