Quick answer -- and survive! (5)
I believe the answer is:
alive
'quick' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'answer and survive' is the wordplay.
'answer' becomes 'a' (abbreviation eg in Q and A).
'and' says to put letters next to each other.
'survive' becomes 'live' ('live' can be a synonym of 'survive').
'a'+'live'='ALIVE'
(Other definitions for alive that I've seen before include "Still kicking, say" , "Aware" , "full of vitality" , "Spirited" , "Quick - breathing" .)