Adjacent Words

Persistent definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

PERSIST'ENT
PERSIST'ING, a. In botany, continuing without withering; opposed to marcescent; as a persisting stigma; continuing after the corol is withered, as a persistent calyx; continuing after the leaves drop off, as a persistent stipule; remaining on the plant till the fruit is ripe, or till after the summer is over, as a persistent leaf.
PERSIST'ING, ppr. Continuing in the prosecution of an undertaking; persevering.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: never-ceasing; "the relentless beat of the drums" [syn: persistent, relentless, unrelenting]
2: continually recurring to the mind; "haunting memories"; "the cathedral organ and the distant voices have a haunting beauty"- Claudia Cassidy [syn: haunting, persistent]
3: retained; not shed; "persistent leaves remain attached past maturity"; "the persistent gills of fishes" [syn: persistent, lasting] [ant: caducous, shed]
4: stubbornly unyielding; "dogged persistence"; "dour determination"; "the most vocal and pertinacious of all the critics"; "a mind not gifted to discover truth but tenacious to hold it"- T.S.Eliot; "men tenacious of opinion" [syn: dogged, dour, persistent, pertinacious, tenacious, unyielding]

Merriam Webster's

adjective Etymology: Latin persistent-, persistens, present participle of persistere Date: 1826 1. existing for a long or longer than usual time or continuously: as a. retained beyond the usual period <a persistent leaf> b. continuing without change in function or structure <persistent gills> c. effective in the open for an appreciable time usually through slow volatilizing <mustard gas is persistent> d. degraded only slowly by the environment <persistent pesticides> e. remaining infective for a relatively long time in a vector after an initial period of incubation <persistent viruses> 2. a. continuing or inclined to persist in a course b. continuing to exist in spite of interference or treatment <a persistent cough> • persistently adverb

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 continuing obstinately; persisting. 2 enduring. 3 constantly repeated (persistent nagging). 4 Biol. (of horns, leaves, etc.) remaining instead of falling off in the normal manner. Derivatives: persistence n. persistency n. persistently adv.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Persistent Per*sist"ent, a. [L. persistens, -entis, p. pr. of persistere. See Persist.] 1. Inclined to persist; having staying qualities; tenacious of position or purpose. 2. (Biol.) Remaining beyond the period when parts of the same kind sometimes fall off or are absorbed; permanent; as, persistent teeth or gills; a persistent calyx; -- opposed to deciduous, and caducous.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

1. Something that is persistent continues to exist or happen for a long time; used especially about bad or undesirable states or situations. His cough grew more persistent until it never stopped... Shoppers picked their way through puddles caused by persistent rain. ADJ 2. Someone who is persistent continues trying to do something, even though it is difficult or other people are against it. ...a persistent critic of the government's transport policies... ADJ

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. Persevering, constant, enduring, tenacious, fixed, immovable, persistive, persisting, steady.

Moby Thesaurus

abiding, accordant, adherent, adhesive, age-long, aged, alike, ancient, antique, archaic, assiduous, automatic, balanced, beaten, booming, bound, bound and determined, bulldogged, bulldoggish, bulldoggy, bullheaded, changeless, chronic, clamant, clamorous, clingy, committed, consistent, consonant, constant, continual, continuing, continuous, correspondent, crying, decided, decisive, dedicated, definite, demanding, determined, devoted, diligent, diuturnal, dogged, draining, durable, earnest, echoic, echoing, enduring, equable, equal, even, evergreen, exacting, exigent, exorbitant, extortionate, faithful, fast, firm, fixed, flat, frequent, frozen, gluey, glutinous, grasping, growling, gummy, habitual, hackneyed, hardy, haunting, homogeneous, immobile, immutable, importunate, inalterable, incessant, indefatigable, indelible, indomitable, industrious, inflexible, insistent, instant, intact, interminable, intransient, invariable, inveterate, invincible, inviolate, lasting, level, lingering, long-lasting, long-lived, long-standing, long-term, longeval, longevous, loud, loyal, macrobiotic, measured, mechanical, methodic, monolithic, nagging, never-tiring, obdurate, obsessive, obstinate, of a piece, of long duration, of long standing, ordered, orderly, patient, patient as Job, perdurable, perduring, perennial, permanent, perpetual, perseverant, persevering, persisting, pertinacious, plodding, plugging, preoccupied, pressing, purposeful, quiescent, rapt, reboant, rebounding, recurrent, recurring, reechoing, regular, relentless, remaining, repercussive, repetitive, resolute, resolved, resounding, reverberant, reverberating, reverberatory, rigid, robotlike, routine, rumbling, sedulous, self-adhesive, sempervirent, serious, sincere, single-minded, sleepless, slogging, smooth, solid, sounding, stable, static, stationary, staunch, staying, steadfast, steady, stereotyped, stickable, sticking, sticky, stubborn, sustained, systematic, tacky, taxing, tenacious, thundering, tireless, torpid, tough, trite, unabating, unaltered, unbroken, unceasing, unchangeable, unchanged, unchanging, unchecked, unconquerable, undamped, undaunted, undestroyed, undeveloped, undeviating, undifferentiated, undiscouraged, undiversified, undrooping, undying, unending, unfading, unfailing, unfaltering, unflagging, unflinching, unforgettable, uniform, unintermitting, uninterrupted, unnodding, unrelaxing, unrelenting, unremitting, unruffled, unshakable, unshifting, unsleeping, unswerving, untiring, unvaried, unvarying, unwavering, unwearied, unwearying, unwinking, urgent, utterly attentive, viscid, vital, weariless, well-trodden, well-worn, wholehearted