perm
noun
perm
1 American
[purm]
/ pɜrm /
noun
-
perms
plural
verb (used with object)
-
perms,
present (3rd person singular)
-
permed,
past participle, past
-
perming
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
perms,
present (3rd person singular)
-
permed,
past participle, past
-
perming
present participle
Perm
2
American
[purm, pairm, pyer m]
/ pɜrm, pɛərm, pjɛrm /
noun
perm
1
British
/ pɜːm /
noun
-
Also called (esp formerly): permanent wave. a hairstyle produced by treatment with heat, chemicals, etc which gives long-lasting waves, curls, or other shaping
-
the act of giving or receiving such a hairstyle
verb
Perm
2
British
/ pjermj /
noun
perm
3
British
/ pɜːm /
noun
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
permsimple
-
permssimple
-
have permedperfect
-
has permedperfect
-
am permingprogressive
-
are permingprogressive
-
is permingprogressive
-
have been permingperfect progressive
-
has been permingperfect progressive
Past
-
permedsimple
-
had permedperfect
-
was permingprogressive
-
were permingprogressive
-
had been permingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of perm
First recorded in 1925–30; by shortening
Explanation
A perm is a chemical treatment that curls your hair. Get a perm today and you'll still have curly hair next month! The word perm is shorthand for permanent wave. The earliest versions of perms were used on wigs, since the chemicals were too harsh for the human scalp. As the technique progressed, it briefly included electric heat and spools for winding the hair. Today's perms use chemicals and curlers — and nearly identical chemicals are used to straighten or relax curly hair. While perms were extremely popular in the 1980s, you don't see many people with perms today.
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.
See Examples For:
Gazza's baggy Roman shellsuit, John Charles plundering black-and-white goals in Turin, King Kev's floodlit perm dazzling Volksparkstadion terraces, Glenn Hoddle's minuscule Monegasque shorts.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
A male friend recently asked Caruso Sichenzia whether he should get a perm.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 5, 2026
I had the perm and then I went bald after that, cut it off.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2025
"He looks better. Much cooler in terms of perm and with regard to chain."
From Salon ● Jan. 19, 2025
It says, Dear Moose, I’ve gone to Bea Trixie’s to get a perm.
From "Al Capone Does My Shirts" by Gennifer Choldenko
His interest in the subject soon took him to other ginger hotspots such the Russian city of Perm and Jamaica's Treasure Beach.
From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2026
Kyiv said it had hit two refineries in Russia's Yaroslavl and Perm regions.
From Barron's ● May 9, 2026
Ukraine has also stepped up attacks on the Russian energy hub of Perm, more than 900 miles deep in central Russia.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 7, 2026
Stanislav Pozdnyakov, head of the Russian Olympic Committee, said in Perm that the key thing now was to prepare athletes for the 2028 Games.
From Reuters ● Oct. 19, 2023
Mr. Perham, or as everyone called him, Big Perm, because of his last name and because he had bone-straight permed hair, is who pulled me off Brandon.
From "Ghost" by Jason Reynolds
She ate more black beans, lathered her scalp with French soap and opted for root perms.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 5, 2026
Gone were the fluffy perms that are the definers of K-pop stardom - here instead were "eggheads", anonymised buzzcuts of soldiers on the frontline.
From BBC ● Dec. 12, 2023
Only chemical treatments like perms or straightening can change these bonds.
From Scientific American ● Aug. 16, 2023
"They Cloned Tyrone," directed and co-written by Juel Taylor, is a futuristic 'hood mystery based around a white and white-adjacent corporate agenda to control the Black community through fried chicken, drugs and perms.
From Salon ● Jul. 30, 2023
Today was supposed to be special, because TJ had learned how to do perms at school, and he was going to give me one as a birthday present.
From "Like Vanessa" by Tami Charles
Huddleston likes to get her hair permed and, according to her daughter, “remember what it was like when Dad was here.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
“We’ve never had power cuts like this in Shenyang,” said one mother, wearing a long flowery skirt and permed hair.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2021
Though Ross reportedly hated the permed hair, he was a businessman first, which is why he kept it.
From Salon ● Sep. 11, 2021
Asawa’s mother got her hair permed for the first time and socialized with the other women at the camp, activities her hardscrabble farm life never allowed.
From New York Times ● Jul. 20, 2020
A week after we get there, Eang tells me we are going to the salon to get our hair permed.
From "First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers" by Loung Ung
Then, at a salon, an aesthetician cleans them with a degreasing solution, and a perming gel is applied to break down the existing bonds in the hair.
From New York Times ● Aug. 1, 2021
She said most beauty schools focus on salon safety and sanitation, and the use of heat styling tools and chemicals for straightening, coloring, perming and relaxing.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 28, 2020
Most beauty schools focus on salon safety and sanitation, and the use of heat styling tools and chemicals for straightening, coloring, perming and relaxing.
From Washington Times ● Jul. 28, 2020
The owner, Hatice Utku, is perming the hair of a woman who looks unusually sombre.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 8, 2014
I told her this while I was perming and cutting her hair, because when you’re a hairdresser you have to chat with the customers and make them feel good and act like everything is toasty.
From "The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother" by James McBride
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.
