perpetual
Americanadjective
-
continuing or enduring forever; everlasting.
- Antonyms:
- temporary
-
lasting an indefinitely long time.
perpetual snow.
-
continuing or continued without intermission or interruption; ceaseless.
a perpetual stream of visitors all day.
- Synonyms:
- uninterrupted, unending, constant, incessant, continuous
- Antonyms:
- discontinuous
-
blooming almost continuously throughout the season or the year.
noun
-
a hybrid rose that is perpetual.
-
a perennial plant.
adjective
-
(usually prenominal) eternal; permanent
-
(usually prenominal) seemingly ceaseless because often repeated
your perpetual complaints
-
horticulture blooming throughout the growing season or year
noun
-
(of a crop plant) continually producing edible parts: perpetual spinach
-
a plant that blooms throughout the growing season
Related Words
See eternal.
Other Word Forms
- nonperpetual adjective
- perpetuality noun
- perpetually adverb
- perpetualness noun
- quasi-perpetual adjective
Etymology
Origin of perpetual
First recorded in 1300–50; late Middle English perpetuall, from Latin perpetuālis “permanent, universal, general,” equivalent to perpetu(us) “continuous, uninterrupted” ( per- “through, thoroughly” + pet-, base of petere “to seek, reach for” + -uus adjective suffix derived from a verb) + -ālis adjective suffix; replacing Middle English perpetuel, from Middle French, from Latin as above; per-, -al 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
By his own admission, Daniel Smith exists in a state of perpetual annoyance.
Mario is thus an ideal avatar: Cheerful, active, in perpetual motion and vague enough to represent whatever a gamer wants him to be.
Even so, it feels criminal to compare it with the band’s earlier catalog, given that Hewlett and Albarn are artists in “perpetual motion.”
From Los Angeles Times
Groff, a perpetual bestseller, is gifted at that: Her previous collection, “Florida,” was a National Book Award finalist, along with two of her other books that earned the honor.
From Los Angeles Times
But data center construction isn’t perpetual, and AI job losses are coming down the road, and possibly very soon.
From Barron's
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
