PERSISTENT

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does persistent mean? 

• PERSISTENT (adjective)
  The adjective PERSISTENT has 4 senses:

1. never-ceasing

2. continually recurring to the mind

3. retained; not shed

4. stubbornly unyielding

  Familiarity information: PERSISTENT used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PERSISTENT (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Never-ceasing

Synonyms:

persistent; relentless; unrelenting

Context example:

the relentless beat of the drums

Similar:

continual (recurring regularly or frequently in a prolonged and closely spaced series)

Derivation:

persist (be persistent, refuse to stop)

persistence (the property of a continuous and connected period of time)

persistency (persistent determination)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Continually recurring to the mind

Synonyms:

haunting; persistent

Context example:

the cathedral organ and the distant voices have a haunting beauty

Similar:

unforgettable (impossible to forget)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Retained; not shed

Synonyms:

lasting; persistent

Context example:

the persistent gills of fishes

Domain category:

biological science; biology (the science that studies living organisms)

Antonym:

caducous (shed at an early stage of development)

Derivation:

persist (continue to exist)

persist (stay behind)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Stubbornly unyielding

Synonyms:

dogged; dour; persistent; pertinacious; tenacious; unyielding

Context example:

men tenacious of opinion

Similar:

obstinate; stubborn; unregenerate (tenaciously unwilling or marked by tenacious unwillingness to yield)

Derivation:

persistence (persistent determination)

 Context examples 

It represents a stark difference from lower down the mountain, where Curiosity discovered evidence of persistent freshwater lakes.

(NASA's Curiosity Rover Finds an Ancient Oasis on Mars, NASA)

Remission with persistent lymphoid nodules in the bone marrow.

(Nodular Partial Remission, NCI Thesaurus)

By definition, this diagnosis is for lesions that are nonreactive, persistent, and genetically determined.

(Mouse Myeloid Proliferation, NCI Thesaurus/MMHCC)

Mutation of the gene is associated with persistent Muellerian duct syndrome.

(AMH wt Allele, NCI Thesaurus)

Among the people randomly assigned to take aspirin, 90.3 percent remained alive at the end of the treatment without persistent physical disability or dementia, compared with 90.5 percent of those taking a placebo.

(Daily low-dose aspirin found to have no effect on healthy life span in older people, National Institutes of Health)

Chlordane is very persistent in the environment, surviving in soils for more than 20 years.

(Chlordane, NCI Thesaurus)

The research does not indicate, however, that persistent stuttering is an early indicator of these other disorders.

(Study in mice identifies type of brain cell involved in stuttering, National Institutes of Health)

A disorder characterized by a long standing and persistent uncoordinated atrial myocardium activation due to multiple reentry circuits with consequent deterioration of atrial mechanical function.

(Chronic Atrial Fibrillation, NCI Thesaurus)

Past studies showed that repeated cocaine exposure causes persistent changes in gene expression in the nucleus accumbens, a reward area of the brain.

(What Causes Cocaine Addiction, NIH, US)

The persistent stall in autophagy means the nerve cells are unable to 'clean' the brain and this results in a build up of toxins.

(New Mechanisms Found of Cell Death in Neurodegenerative Disorders, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)