Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Refusing to give up or let go; persevering obstinately.
  • adjective Insistently repetitive or continuous.
  • adjective Existing or remaining in the same state for an indefinitely long time; enduring.
  • adjective Botany Lasting past maturity without falling off, as the calyx on an eggplant or the scales of a pine cone.
  • adjective Zoology Retained permanently, rather than disappearing in an early stage of development.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Persisting or continuing in spite of opposition, warning, remonstrance, etc.; refusing to cease or give up some action, course, or pursuit; perservering: as, a persistent beggar; persistent attempts to do something.
  • That endures; enduring.
  • Specifically— In botany, continuing without withering: opposed to caducous, deciduous, or marcescent: as, a persistent calyx (one remaining after the corolla has withered).
  • In zoology, perennial; holding to morphological character, or continuing in functional activity; not degenerate, deciduous, or caducous, as a part or an organ: as, persistent types of structure; the persistent horns of cattle or gills of newts.
  • Repeated; continual.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Inclined to persist; having staying qualities; tenacious of position or purpose.
  • adjective (Biol.) Remaining beyond the period when parts of the same kind sometimes fall off or are absorbed; permanent; ; -- opposed to deciduous, and caducous.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Obstinately refusing to give up or let go.
  • adjective Insistently repetitive.
  • adjective Indefinitely continuous.
  • adjective botany Lasting past maturity without falling off.
  • adjective computing About some data or data structures: existing after the execution of the program. Remaining in existence past the lifetime of the program that creates it.
  • adjective mathematics Describing a fractal process that has a positive Brown function
  • adjective mathematics non-transient.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective retained; not shed
  • adjective never-ceasing
  • adjective stubbornly unyielding
  • adjective continually recurring to the mind

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word persistent.

Examples

  •  The classification - intermittent or persistent - leads us to the proper management and treatment of asthma  The basics: intermittent asthma = bronchodilators as needed persistent asthma = daily anti - inflammatory + bronchodilators as needed

    Recently Uploaded Slideshows 2009

  • Williams' wife and family will also appear to discuss what they call his persistent drinking and a Monday disturbance at a Los Angeles hotel where police briefly detained Williams and his daughter after a heated argument.

    Report: Ted Williams Headed To Rehab AP 2011

  • Williams' wife and family will also appear to discuss what they call his persistent drinking and a Monday disturbance at a Los Angeles hotel where police briefly detained Williams and his daughter after a heated argument.

    Report: Ted Williams Headed To Rehab AP 2011

  • Ms. Massie called the city's 10-year time frame "laughable" because it is too slow to fix what she described as a persistent public-health threat.

    Lawsuit Blasts City PCB Plan Devlin Barrett 2011

  • Williams' wife and family will also appear to discuss what they call his persistent drinking and a Monday disturbance at a Los Angeles hotel where police briefly detained Williams and his daughter after a heated argument.

    Report: Ted Williams Headed To Rehab AP 2011

  • Well, North Korea vowing this morning to bolster its nuclear arsenal responding to what it calls persistent hostile policy from Washington.

    CNN Transcript May 8, 2009 2009

  • In a speech yesterday, Alito voiced frustration over what he called persistent questions about the court's Roman Catholic majority saying that the issue has been settled long ago, thanks to the constitution's guarantee of religious freedom.

    CNN Transcript Oct 21, 2009 2009

  • North Korea vowing this morning to bolster its nuclear arsenal, responding to what it calls persistent hostile policy from Washington.

    CNN Transcript May 8, 2009 2009

  • They insist, and despite some strong opinions from other doctors that she's in what they call persistent vegetative state, they believe she is very, very much alive.

    CNN Transcript Mar 20, 2005 2005

  • We've all heard analysis on the other side that says their only reflexive responses, that really she's been in what they call a persistent vegetative state for many, many years.

    CNN Transcript Mar 22, 2005 2005

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • Learning is persistant because you can't give up.

    March 22, 2007