Please use the form below to search our dictionaries by entering a word you wish to define. (If you search this site to define words regularly, support this FREE site - Donate! )

Define the word persistent

Persistent \Per*sist"ent\, a. [L. persistens, -entis, p. pr. of
   persistere. See Persist.]
   1. Inclined to persist; having staying qualities; tenacious
      of position or purpose.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. (Biol.) Remaining beyond the period when parts of the same
      kind sometimes fall off or are absorbed; permanent; as,
      persistent teeth or gills; a persistent calyx; -- opposed
      to deciduous, and caducous.
      [1913 Webster]

persistent
     adj 1: never-ceasing; "the relentless beat of the drums" [syn: relentless,
             unrelenting]
     2: continually recurring to the mind; "haunting memories"; "the
        cathedral organ and the distant voices have a haunting
        beauty"- Claudia Cassidy [syn: haunting]
     3: retained; not shed; "persistent leaves remain attached past
        maturity"; "the persistent gills of fishes" [syn: lasting]
        [ant: caducous]

245 Moby Thesaurus words for "persistent":
   abiding, accordant, adherent, adhesive, age-long, aged, alike,
   ancient, antique, archaic, assiduous, automatic, balanced, beaten,
   booming, bound, bound and determined, bulldogged, bulldoggish,
   bulldoggy, bullheaded, changeless, chronic, clamant, clamorous,
   clingy, committed, consistent, consonant, constant, continual,
   continuing, continuous, correspondent, crying, decided, decisive,
   dedicated, definite, demanding, determined, devoted, diligent,
   diuturnal, dogged, draining, durable, earnest, echoic, echoing,
   enduring, equable, equal, even, evergreen, exacting, exigent,
   exorbitant, extortionate, faithful, fast, firm, fixed, flat,
   frequent, frozen, gluey, glutinous, grasping, growling, gummy,
   habitual, hackneyed, hardy, haunting, homogeneous, immobile,
   immutable, importunate, inalterable, incessant, indefatigable,
   indelible, indomitable, industrious, inflexible, insistent,
   instant, intact, interminable, intransient, invariable, inveterate,
   invincible, inviolate, lasting, level, lingering, long-lasting,
   long-lived, long-standing, long-term, longeval, longevous, loud,
   loyal, macrobiotic, measured, mechanical, methodic, monolithic,
   nagging, never-tiring, obdurate, obsessive, obstinate, of a piece,
   of long duration, of long standing, ordered, orderly, patient,
   patient as Job, perdurable, perduring, perennial, permanent,
   perpetual, perseverant, persevering, persisting, pertinacious,
   plodding, plugging, preoccupied, pressing, purposeful, quiescent,
   rapt, reboant, rebounding, recurrent, recurring, reechoing,
   regular, relentless, remaining, repercussive, repetitive, resolute,
   resolved, resounding, reverberant, reverberating, reverberatory,
   rigid, robotlike, routine, rumbling, sedulous, self-adhesive,
   sempervirent, serious, sincere, single-minded, sleepless, slogging,
   smooth, solid, sounding, stable, static, stationary, staunch,
   staying, steadfast, steady, stereotyped, stickable, sticking,
   sticky, stubborn, sustained, systematic, tacky, taxing, tenacious,
   thundering, tireless, torpid, tough, trite, unabating, unaltered,
   unbroken, unceasing, unchangeable, unchanged, unchanging,
   unchecked, unconquerable, undamped, undaunted, undestroyed,
   undeveloped, undeviating, undifferentiated, undiscouraged,
   undiversified, undrooping, undying, unending, unfading, unfailing,
   unfaltering, unflagging, unflinching, unforgettable, uniform,
   unintermitting, uninterrupted, unnodding, unrelaxing, unrelenting,
   unremitting, unruffled, unshakable, unshifting, unsleeping,
   unswerving, untiring, unvaried, unvarying, unwavering, unwearied,
   unwearying, unwinking, urgent, utterly attentive, viscid, vital,
   weariless, well-trodden, well-worn, wholehearted

persistent
     
        persistence