Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Lasting for eternity.
- adj. Continuing or lasting for an indefinitely long time.
- adj. Instituted to be in effect or have tenure for an unlimited duration: a treaty of perpetual friendship.
- adj. Continuing without interruption. See Synonyms at continual.
- adj. Flowering throughout the growing season.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Continuing for ever in future time; destined to continue or be continued through the ages; everlasting: as, a perpetual covenant; a perpetual statute.
- Continuing or continued without intermission; uninterrupted; continuous; continual. as, a perpetual stream; the perpetual action of the heart and arteries; a vow of perpetual poverty.
- Synonyms Everlasting, Immortal, etc. (see eternal), unceasing, ceaseless, unfailing, perenuial, enduring, permanent, lasting, endless, everlasting.
- 2. Continual, Incessant, etc. (see incessant), constant.
- n. A perennial plant, especially a rose which blooms every month of the year.
Wiktionary
- adj. Lasting forever, or for an indefinitely long time
- adj. Set up to be in effect or have tenure for an unlimited duration
- adj. Continuing uninterrupted
- adj. Flowering throughout the growing season
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Neverceasing; continuing forever or for an unlimited time; unfailing; everlasting; continuous.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. uninterrupted in time and indefinitely long continuing
- adj. continuing forever or indefinitely
Etymologies
- From Latin perpetualis ("universal"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English perpetuel, from Old French, from Latin perpetuālis, from perpetuus, continuous : per-, per- + petere, to go toward; see pet- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“We have heard from time to time of the term perpetual motion.”
“Taken literally, the term perpetual motion refers to movement that goes on forever.”
“There are often humorous passages, for the Altrurians are inextinguishably amused by our illogicality, and what they call the perpetual _non sequiturs_ of our lives and laws.”
“For this bahar of cloves, the Dutch give fifty dollars, pursuant to what they term their perpetual contract; but, for the more readily obtaining some loading, I agreed to pay them sixty dollars.”
“Rather than exhibit a selection of faits accomplis, Glaser uses this show as a narrative platform to address what he describes as a perpetual sense of "doubt and confusion.”
“Back in 2008 a joint statement from several rights organizations said they were protesting against what they called a perpetual policy of discrimination and marginalization from the government.”
“Tim O'Reilly, the open-source advocate, has used the term perpetual beta positively as an indication of open-source development processes wherein users are ”
“His last season was 1966, where he won 27 games pitching in perpetual agony.”
“The real difference between a conservative and a liberal is that a conservative lives in perpetual fear of nearly everything he experiences in the physical world and, hence, reacts to every stimulus in his environment with a sense of suspicion and wariness, cynicism and skepticism.”
King: Blue Dogs on constituents' short leash over health care
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘perpetual’.
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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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Time
clock, forever, never, ever, ago, when, then, now, past, present, future, timeline and 119 more...
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Words For Novel (Part 2)
fable, sprite, syphilitic, anvil, wonderstruck, vertigo, bridled, tufted, fettered, savvy, tweed fedora, tryst and 255 more...
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Time
Words related to time
time, occurrence, duration, schedule, calendar, period, continuance, event, before, until, since, after and 28 more...
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Favorites
disparage, partisan, cupidity, hokum, tussle, odious, dastardly, overture, plane, chronic, peering, peer and 328 more...
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Neww
specious, disdainfully, vehemently, in lieu of, dismissive, perpetual, preposterous, impasse, fathom, conversely, repugnant, clogged and 142 more...
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Out of Book Words
commiserate, equanimity, dulcet, cursory, diffident, profligate, egregious, precocious, dissemble, aggregate, efficacy, ingenuous and 100 more...
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fifi
verbs Adj Adv noun
indulge, convene, solve, dissolve, prospect, prospective, allege, resolve, accountable, administration, amid, agenda and 407 more...
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Necessary?
"Words are very..."
The above was the original description for this list. Unfortunately, it doesn't convey much about the list contents.
I'm leaving you to draw your own conclusions abo...supererogation, fruitcake, unbeknownst, melifluous, bane, cavy, unnecessary, lyrical, question, undertow, weapon, arduous and 200 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...
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A Matter Of Time
Favorite time-related words.
vespertine, twilight, gloaming, eftsoon, eventide, dawn, eos, dusk, witching hour, ephemeral, candlemark, autumnal and 122 more...
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anshukk's list
mephistophilies, blitzkrieg, protagonist, antagonize, perpetual, basilisk, claustrophobia, dihydrogenoxide, uxoricide
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Misc. Words.
Words I like to use, words I like but may forget.
corrosion, astonish, solace, ferment, continuum, kinesthetic, permeate, repose, caprice, cardinal, discourse, surrender and 610 more...
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List of words to expand my vocabulary
does what it says on the tin, and is severely needed.
indolent, insolent, idly, divulge, tattle, benign, roguish, daintily, idle, dowdy, sordid, wanton and 242 more...
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My GRE
concomitant, mendacity, corollary, mandate, ascertain, exacerbate, substantiate, perennial, exemplify, hegemony, acrimonious, repertoire and 653 more...
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JLaughWork's Words
sesquipedalian, perspicacity, fervid, onomatopoeia, eschatology, prognostication, pedagogue, expiation, integrity, metamorphosis, supercilious, xenophilia and 229 more...
Tweets
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