Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To have reference; relate: evidence that pertains to the accident.
- v. To belong as an adjunct, part, holding, or quality.
- v. To be fitting or suitable.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To belong; appertain, as a possession or an adjunct: with to or unto: as, the things which pertain to God.
- To relate; have reference or relation: with to.
- Synonyms To regard, relate to, bear upon, concern.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To belong; to have connection with, or dependence on, something, as an appurtenance, attribute, etc.; to appertain
- v. To have relation or reference to something.
WordNet 3.0
- v. be relevant to
- v. be a part or attribute of
Etymologies
- From Old French partenir (French: appartenir), in turn from Latin pertineō. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English pertenen, pertainen, from Old French partenir, from Latin pertinēre : per-, per- + tenēre, to hold; see ten- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“But to clarify, Cardinas said only four of the eight models named in the recall pertain to Guam: the 2009-2010 Matrix, the 2007-2010 Tundra, the 2008-2010 Sequoia and the 2005-2010”
“PACER, the four calls pertain to paragraph 68 (e) of the criminal complaint and are conversations of Blagojevich and other interceptees.”
“Those terms pertain to only years with salary caps, the league says.”
“I write songs that kind of pertain to where I'm at now.”
“That it is not expedient due to extrajudicial complications, such as pertain to future behaviors of CIA agents and as President Obama alleges, should have no bearing.”
“Why would Silvans "pertain" to Sancus if they are supposed to the one and same god?”
“But lest these things should seem to have too much of logical difficulty, let us proceed to such as pertain more to natural philosophy.”
“One half of it (within bounds) might remain as it is, on the supposition, that men have neither hopes nor duties, but such as pertain to them as joint tenants of this earthly life.”
“They showed Mr. Kendrick the books of the firm, they explained to him their system of buying, of analyzing their sales that they might learn how to buy at best advantage and sell at greatest profit; of getting rid of goods quickly by attractive advertising; of all manner of details large and small, such as pertain to the conduct of a business of the character of theirs.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘pertain’.
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hunting
crudely, unequivocal, obsolete, obscure, overtly, misdeed, shack, inherent, outcry, hefty, composed, poised and 318 more...
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bad memory
copper, anvil, oblique, thrust, shrine, welfare, farewell, bitter, faction, sectarian, tangible, spectacle and 134 more...
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Words
My list of words.
veritable, facetious, nadir, quixotic, apropos, acquiesce, ostensible, insipid, egregious, inveterate, coax, adroit and 409 more...
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Personal Vocabulary List
All my favourite words that I come across!
veritable, incongruence, rigamorole, letcherous, revolting, repulsive, reputrid, rapatious, forays, guise, placate, paradigm and 1162 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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GRE AWA
escalating, vehement, vehemence, hostility, paparazzi, regime, irrespective, scoop, exaggerated, overblown, unfetter, scrupulous and 272 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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oneasterism's words
Words that I like, that I don't use often enough, that are new to me, that friends and family have taught me, and so on.
lugubrious, reticent, eschelon, missive, penchant, copious, conspicuous, tranquil, redolent, asinine, inane, dilatory and 625 more...
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To Belong
Verbs meaning "to belong"
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Just 'cause I like 'em, P
pellucid, pertain, pampas, prate, pinecone, philistine, pantocrator, papaverine, postmeridian, potlatch, pharology, pinniped and 622 more...
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The Color Perple
Words that start with "per."
perhaps, perchance, pervade, persnickety, pervert, persia, person, permeate, percent, perch, percolate, perky and 40 more...
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Words
fickle, redeem, disclosure, fortnight, depict, convey, scribe, affluent, commuter, defection, churn, vouch and 77 more...
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List 8
Derivatives from Chapter 8 of Part One of English Words from Latin and Greek Elements
devious, colloquial, collate, distend, temporal, tenuous, continual, verbose, corporal, aqueous, primal, dissimilar and 8 more...
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The fountainhead - 1
endorsement, connotation, reverence, grandeur, pertain, realm, arrogate, hesitate, preempt, usurp, exaltation, contemplate and 13 more...
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The Inside Jokes
I and a select group of friends find these funny. Quite often it is a different friend each time.
octogenarian, schools of thought, yurt, zmay, jumbuck, stout old ladies, domkop, axolotl, citoyen, pertain, startling, enthralling and 52 more...
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ordinary.madness's Words
disgruntled, unprecedented, strive, debauchery, indulgence, draconian, imbricate, amalgamation, skittish, lanyard, merdiven, orangesmoke and 28 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for pertain.
milosrdenstvi Can be used as a synonym for 'belong'. Aug 15, 2008