pervade
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of pervade
1645–55; < Latin pervādere to pass through, equivalent to per- per- + vādere to go, walk
Explanation
To pervade means to be present throughout, to exist in every part of. If you have too many cats, the horrible smell of cat pee will pervade your house. You can use pervade both for external things like smells and sickness, and for more internal things like feelings. For instance, you can say that a feeling of doom pervaded the army as they caught sight of the opposition’s superior forces. Despite efforts to prevent bullying, peer pressure and clique mentalities pervade the school environment.
Vocabulary lists containing pervade
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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Grade 10, List 1
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The Giver
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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.
Its technologies not only pervade the modern world; they buttress the global economy.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 28, 2026
As 10-minute online deliveries by "quick commerce" apps like Zomato, BlinkIt and Zepto pervade urban India, hundreds of thousands of neighbourhood stores across cities have closed down.
From BBC • Apr. 9, 2025
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, however, the concepts of individualism and self-sufficiency began to pervade U.S. culture and politics.
From Salon • Apr. 7, 2025
“And I just don’t think it will be controlled. I think it will pervade the culture.”
From New York Times • Feb. 4, 2024
Those of us in the civil rights community are not immune to the racial stereotypes that pervade media imagery and political rhetoric; nor do we operate outside of the political context.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
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.
