pervasive
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of pervasive
First recorded in 1730–40; equivalent to Latin pervās(us), past participle of pervādere “to pass through” + -ive ( def. ); see pervade ( def. )
Explanation
When something is pervasive, it's everywhere. Common things are pervasive — like greed and cheap perfume. Ever notice how certain trends seem to spread all over the place? When something — like a hairstyle — is super-common, it's pervasive. Pervasive things can't be escaped. Playing video games is pervasive among kids. Talking about the weather is pervasive among adults. Ideas, diseases, habits, and all sorts of things can be pervasive. If you're sick of seeing something because you're seeing it again and again, it must be pervasive.
Vocabulary lists containing pervasive
List 3
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The SAT: Words to Capture Tone, List 5
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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.
People are just afraid or they don’t want the hassle, and it is pervasive.
From Slate • May 26, 2026
To begin with, there’s its ingratiating style, leisurely but leavened with wit and chutzpah, as well as Fiedler’s pervasive disdain for the sentimental and ersatz.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 22, 2026
They also spoke out against "pervasive, opaque and harmful industrial subsidies, market-distortive practices of state-owned enterprises, and all forms of forced technology transfer".
From Barron's • May 6, 2026
It is, of course, the pervasive smell of jet fuel.
From BBC • May 3, 2026
If the powerful scientific revolution that had swept through Europe in the eighteenth century had one legacy, it was this: the laws that ran through nature were uniform and pervasive.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
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.
