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1. Continue in existence after (an adversity, etc.)
   - survive, pull through, pull round, come through
    
2. Succeed in a big way; get to the top
   "I don't know whether I can make it in science!";
   - arrive, get in, go far
    
3. Go successfully through a test or a selection process
   - pass, make the grade [N. Amer]

Derived forms: makes it, made it, making it

Type of: bring home the bacon [informal], come through, come up trumps [Brit, informal], defeat, deliver the goods, get the better of, overcome, succeed, turn up trumps [Brit, informal], win

Antonym: yield