permanent
[pur-muh-nuh nt]
- existing perpetually; everlasting, especially without significant change.
- intended to exist or function for a long, indefinite period without regard to unforeseeable conditions: a permanent employee; the permanent headquarters of the United Nations.
- long-lasting or nonfading: permanent pleating; permanent ink.
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- Also called permanent wave. a wave or curl that is set into the hair by the application of a special chemical preparation and that remains for a number of months.
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Origin of permanent
Synonyms
See more synonyms for permanent on Thesaurus.com1. stable, invariable, constant.
Antonyms
1. temporary; inconstant.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for permanent
Contemporary Examples
The offices were firebombed in 2011; no one was hurt but a permanent police car was subsequently stationed outside.
Plus, while sometimes IPs can be “permanent”, at other times IPs last just a few seconds.
At least one parent would have to be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident.
They seemed like a permanent part of the mindscape, the way mountains or rivers are part of the physical world.
Such is the strange and permanent apocalypse of 21st-century L.A.
Historical Examples
We have not seen any permanent water for the last eighty miles.
Explorations in AustraliaJohn Forrest
A surplus in the Treasury created by loans is not a permanent or safe reliance.
An unlawful expedient can not become a permanent condition of government.
But the present must not become the permanent condition of the Government.
Who, again, could undertake the permanent care of his mother?
VivietteWilliam J. Locke
permanent
- existing or intended to exist for an indefinite perioda permanent structure
- not expected to change for an indefinite time; not temporarya permanent condition
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Word Origin
C15: from Latin permanens continuing, from permanēre to stay to the end, from per- through + manēre to remain
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for permanent
adj.
early 15c., from Middle French permanent (14c.) or directly from Latin permanentem (nominative permanens) "remaining," present participle of permanere "endure, hold out, continue, stay to the end," from per- "through" (see per) + manere "stay" (see mansion). As a noun meaning "permanent wave," by 1909. Of clothing, permanent press attested from 1964.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper