Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Lasting or active through the year or through many years.
- adj. Lasting an indefinitely long time; enduring: perennial happiness.
- adj. Appearing again and again; recurrent. See Synonyms at continual.
- adj. Botany Living three or more years.
- n. Botany A perennial plant.
- n. Something that recurs or seems to recur on a yearly or continual basis: "that hardy perennial, the budget deficit” ( David S. Broder).
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Lasting or continuing without cessation through the year, or through many years: as, a perennial spring or fountain.
- Continuing without stop or intermission; perpetual; unceasing; never-failing; everlasting.
- In zoology, growing continually: noting teeth which have the pulp-cavity open, and grow indefinitely from persistent pulps: as, the perennial incisors of a rodent.
- In botany, continuing more than two years: as, a perennial stem or root.
- In entomology, forming colonies which are continued from year to year, as the ants, bees, and termites; also, living more than one year, as an insect. Synonyms Unfailing, enduring, permanent, constant, abiding, lasting, undying, imperishable, deathless, immortal.
- n. In botany, a plant which lives and blossoms or fructifies year after year. Such plants may or may not have perennial roots. In trees and shrubs and herbs with growth from year to year from a strong taproot the root is naturally perennial; but in most perennials with only fibrous roots the roots are produced anew from time to time or from year to year. The division of plants into annuals, biennials, and perennials, according to the duration of their roots, is liable to vary under the influence of different circumstances. An annual plant in a northern climate may become a biennial or even a perennial in a warm climate, while, on the other hand, the perennials of warm climates often become annuals when transplanted to northern climates.
Wiktionary
- adj. Lasting or remaining active throughout the year, or all the time.
- adj. botany, of a plant Having a life cycle of more than two years. Compare annual, biennial.
- adj. figuratively Continuing without cessation or intermission; perpetual; permanent; unceasing; never failing.
- adj. figuratively Enduring; lasting; timeless.
- adj. figuratively Recurrent; appearing or recurring again and again.
- n. A perennial plant; a plant that is active throughout the year or survives for more than two growing seasons. Compare annual, biennial.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. ing or continuing through the year.
- adj. Continuing without cessation or intermission; perpetual; unceasing; never failing.
- adj. (Bot.) Continuing more than two years.
- n. (Bot.) A perennial plant; a plant which lives or continues more than two years, whether it retains its leaves in winter or not.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. lasting an indefinitely long time; suggesting self-renewal
- n. (botany) a plant lasting for three seasons or more
- adj. recurring again and again
- adj. lasting three seasons or more
Etymologies
- 1644, from Latin perennis ("lasting through the whole year"), from per- ("through") + annus ("year"). (Wiktionary)
- Latin perennis (per-, throughout; see per- + annus, year; see at- in Indo-European roots) + -al1. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Caulks is quality, though, a world away from what I call the perennial loanee – that journeyman player who's been around the block and hasn't been able to find a home.”
The Guardian: Loan stars offer a cheap fix but they can be a pain | David James
“Yet he was always broke, for the Billow, in perennial distress, absorbed his cash as well as his brains.”
“When new growth appears in perennial beds, apply a balanced fertilizer like Osmocote”
“Or if they look to the character of the person, they chose to sit in perennial judgement on those characteristics.”
“Teams like Cincinnati, Syracuse, South Florida, Connecticut and even Pittsburgh are not exactly synonymous with the phrase perennial football powerhouses, and Louisville and Rutgers have usually been relatively weak even if they had a couple of decent to good years recently.”
“Her experimentation with the dual mandate of English and Igbo in perennial discourse is a case in point.”
Half of a Yellow Sun: Summary and book reviews of Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
“CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) - North Carolina's frustrated fans have spent nearly a year waiting for Butch Davis to start rebuilding a program mired in perennial struggle.”
USATODAY.com - College Football - James Madison vs. North Carolina
“It is an annual or, more usually, a short-term perennial shrub growing up to 4 m high and woody at the base.”
1. Tree products in agroecosystems: economic and policy issues.
“Yet he was always broke, for The Billow, in perennial distress, absorbed his cash as well as his brains.”
“I did not know how to imagine him anything but blooming and beaming in perennial health and strength.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘perennial’.
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GRE 2014
abate, abdicate, abase, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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GRE Barron's 800
zealot, wistful, welter, wary, whimsical, warranted, vortex, vivisection, volatile, vitiate, viscous, visage and 787 more...
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Grasses
Grasses, and words about grasses.
Prairie grasses names are found in this list.
Names of medical marijuana strains can be found elsewhere.cheatgrass, downy brome, chess, brome, bronco-grass, Sudan grass, ryegrass, cocksfoot, tussock, pampas, fescue, perennial and 323 more...
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GRE Study guide
Going through the Magoosh website, words I pulled from the verbal section. 2012.
magnanimous, correlate, anglicized, simulacrum, tantamount, obsequiousness, subterfuge, vehement, vociferous, benign, concomitant, veracity and 83 more...
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P
letters starting with p
predicament, presumptuous, predilection, plausible, preeminent, plaintive, paragon, partisan, pathological, paucity, pedantic, penchant and 28 more...
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Summers Vocab 1
Vocabulary for Mr. Summers.
melee, nexus, flippant, fiat, facile, euphemism, circuitous, cavalcade, perennial, surreptitious, discursive, cacophony
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Stick Around
annotine, lasting, durable, everlasting, permanence, stable, abiding, immortal, hibernaculum, continual, dwelling-place, abiding-place and 57 more...
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man gre
abase, abeyance, abreast, abscission, abscond, abyss, accede, accretion, acerbic, acidulous, acumen, adulterate and 483 more...
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brian's biffs
melancholy, bucolic, visceral, cacophony, burlesque, exogenous, epiphany, monetization, accretive, opulent, splendid, seismic and 10 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1824 more...
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writing first chapter
revolve, vital, necessity, depict, archery, indegenous, native, lacrosse, similarly, recess, composition, indicator and 91 more...
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My GRE Vocab
moniker, sobriquet, prerogative, aberration, aberrant, nuance, notorious, infamous, renown, allude, refer, content and 109 more...
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My preparation
for GRE ofcourse
morbid, disparate, incipient, exonerate, engross, ebullient, predilection, propensity, allure, qualms, chastise, perpetuate and 111 more...
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List Erine
cool mint antiseptic
shalom, cattywampus, bourgeoisie, aerophile, traverse, grotto, epicurean, ex cathedra, nautilus, epitaph, lathe, continuum and 753 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for perennial.

kingparton Perennial youth, perennial brightness, follow them both. Who can imagine the old age of the sun?
Washington Allston, "Human Art and Infinite Truth" Jan 2, 2012
jwjarvis One perennial question that personality testing could help to answer is whether hard work can make up for differences in cognitive ability. Jun 9, 2010