persist

American  

[per-sist, -zist] / pərˈsɪst, -ˈzɪst /

verb (used without object)

• persists,
  present (3rd person singular)
• persisted,
  past participle,  past
• persisting
  present participle

1. to continue steadfastly or firmly in some state, purpose, course of action, or the like, especially in spite of opposition, remonstrance, etc..

   to persist in working for world peace;

   to persist in unpopular political activities.

2. to last or endure tenaciously.

   The legend of King Arthur has persisted for nearly fifteen centuries.

3. to be insistent in a statement, request, question, etc.

   Synonyms:

   insist

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verb (used with object)

• persists,
  present (3rd person singular)
• persisted,
  past participle,  past
• persisting
  present participle

1. Computers. to cause (a record, configuration, value, etc.) to be written to permanent storage by the scripted process that created it, so that it continues to exist in the same state after the script has finished running.

persist British  

/ pəˈsɪst /

verb

1. (often foll by in) to continue steadfastly or obstinately despite opposition or difficulty

2. to continue to exist or occur without interruption

   the rain persisted throughout the night

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Synonym Usage

See continue.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• persister
  noun
• persistiveness
  noun
• nonpersisting
  adjective
• persistive
  adjective
• unpersisting
  adjective
• persistingly
  adverb
• persistively
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Participles

• persisting
  present
• persisted
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• persist
  simple
• persists
  simple
• have persisted
  perfect
• has persisted
  perfect
• am persisting
  progressive
• are persisting
  progressive
• is persisting
  progressive
• have been persisting
  perfect progressive
• has been persisting
  perfect progressive

Past

• persisted
  simple
• had persisted
  perfect
• was persisting
  progressive
• were persisting
  progressive
• had been persisting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will persist
  simple
• will have persisted
  perfect
• will be persisting
  progressive
• will have been persisting
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of persist

First recorded in 1530–40; from Latin persistere, literally, “to stand firm permanently,” equivalent to per- per- ( def. ) + sistere “to (cause to) stand,” akin to stāre “to stand ( def. ) ”

Explanation

When someone persists they keep going or hang on. If you want to finish a marathon, you have to persist and keep running, no matter how many blisters you have. The great Roman poet Ovid once advised: “Endure and persist, this pain will turn good by and by.” As Ovid’s quote hints at, persistence is often associated with hardship and the reward that comes with not backing down. Synonyms include endure, follow through, and persevere, while antonyms include cease and give up.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

persist persists persisted persisting

Proteins are generally expected to break down over very long periods of time, so researchers still need to understand how collagen or fragments of it could persist inside fossils for tens of millions of years.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 14, 2026

Ultimately, company leaders concluded those challenges would persist, so they came up with a new plan.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026

He said the company is facing recruitment and retention difficulties and warned the problem would "persist" if it was nationalised or put into special administration.

From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026

The company’s chief business officer, Sumit Sadana, said at a conference Monday that Micron expects tight supply to persist beyond 2027 given increasing demand from customers.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 10, 2026

“We have been looking into that. It’s not easy to determine how long impairments last—generally those costs can persist for ten seconds or fifteen seconds.”

From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel

This is especially true when the inequality persists intergenerationally: Social mobility declines and public belief in opportunity for all collapses.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026

"The longer that high inflation persists, the more challenging and costly it can be to bring it back down."

From Barron's ● Jul. 31, 2026

Forecasters are calling for a slow cooling trend starting Sunday but warned that temperatures would still be above normal and would remain that way for the foreseeable future as the high pressure persists.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026

If high inflation persists, the Fed could be forced to raise interest rates.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 27, 2026

It is no exaggeration to say that after and because of Beethoven music approached the status of a religion, complete with gods and goddesses for worshipping, a state of affairs that persists to this day.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall

Instead, the shocks have persisted and now overlap with a surge in demand from the artificial-intelligence build-out that is raising prices for technology equipment and software.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026

This anxiety persisted even after scientists at a sleep lab informed study participants they had achieved quality sleep.

From Slate ● Aug. 11, 2026

Despite inspections finding some improvements, concerns about the prison have persisted among inmates, their families and the authorities.

From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2026

Her health concerns persisted even when smoke from the stubborn fire, which burned for more than a week, was replaced with the smells of rotting meat and other frozen foods.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026

But the voice persisted, boring into his mind.

From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques

If Sapiens women had, in fact, regularly entered Neanderthal groups, we would expect to see a recent genetic signal of Sapiens ancestry persisting among the last Neanderthals.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 7, 2026

With the heat persisting into Tuesday across south-eastern areas, some locations may enter official heatwave conditions with temperatures above 27C or 28C for three consecutive days.

From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2026

"We have evidence that terrorist content and illegal hate speech is persisting on some of the largest social media sites," said Oliver Griffiths, Ofcom's online safety director.

From Barron's ● May 15, 2026

With energy prices raising headline inflation, officials may not be able to tell for months whether underlying price pressures are fading, persisting or getting worse.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 29, 2026

Once China was finally unified, in 221 B.C., no other independent state ever had a chance of arising and persisting for long in China.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

Related Words

• carry on
• carry over
• continue
• endure
• go on
• linger
• persevere
• prevail
• pursue
• recur
• remain