Survives terrible evils (5)
I believe the answer is:
lives
'survives' is the definition.
('live' can be a synonym of 'survive')
'terrible evils' is the wordplay.
'terrible' indicates an anagram.
'evils' with letters rearranged gives 'LIVES'.
(Other definitions for lives that I've seen before include "Exists" , "Is animate" , "See 5" , "Biographies" , "Resides" .)