Persistent

//pɚˈsɪstənt// adj

adj ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Adjective

1
Obstinately refusing to give up or let go.
"She has had a persistent cough for weeks."
2
Insistently repetitive.
"There was a persistent knocking on the door."
3
Indefinitely continuous.
"There have been persistent rumours for years."
4
Lasting past maturity without falling off.
"Pine cones have persistent scales."
5
Of data or a data structure: not transient or temporary, but remaining in existence after the termination of the program that creates it.
"Once written to a disk file, the data becomes persistent: it will still be there tomorrow when we run the next program."

Show 2 more definitions

6
Describing a fractal process that has a positive Brown function
7
non-transient.

Adjective

1
never-ceasing wordnet
2
continually recurring to the mind wordnet
3
retained; not shed wordnet
4
stubbornly unyielding wordnet

Synonyms

haunting pertinacious unrelenting continuate abiding accordant

Antonyms

deciduous durable ephemeral fitful

Example

"After a streak of bad luck, a persistent gambler will be forced to play for high stakes."

Etymology

From Latin persistentem, present participle of persistō (“continue steadfastly”). By surface analysis, persist + -ent.

Related phrases

non-null persistent null persistent persistent adrenarche syndrome persistent cloaca persistent cookie persistent cross-site scripting persistent depressive disorder persistent genital arousal disorder persistent organic pollutant persistent sexual arousal syndrome persistent truncus arteriosus persistent vegetative state

More for "persistent"

Synonyms Sentences Pronunciation Translate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonyms See usage examples Check pronunciation Browse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.