adj ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Adjective

1. 1
   Manifested throughout; pervading, permeating, penetrating or affecting everything.

   "The medication had a pervasive effect on the patient's health."

Adjective

1. 1
   spreading or spread throughout wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

penetratingpermeatingabsoluteall embracingall outall pervading

Example

More examples

"Cares and worries were pervasive in her mind."

Etymology

From Latin pervāsus, from pervādō (“spread through, pervade”), from per (“through”) + vādō (“go, walk”).

Related phrases

pervasive arousal withdrawal syndromepervasive developmental disorderpervasive gamepervasive refusal syndrome

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