perpetual
Americanadjective
-
continuing or enduring forever; everlasting.
- Antonyms:
- temporary
-
lasting an indefinitely long time.
perpetual snow.
-
continuing or continued without intermission or interruption; ceaseless.
a perpetual stream of visitors all day.
- Synonyms:
- uninterrupted, unending, constant, incessant, continuous
- Antonyms:
- discontinuous
-
blooming almost continuously throughout the season or the year.
noun
-
a hybrid rose that is perpetual.
-
a perennial plant.
adjective
-
(usually prenominal) eternal; permanent
-
(usually prenominal) seemingly ceaseless because often repeated
your perpetual complaints
-
horticulture blooming throughout the growing season or year
noun
-
(of a crop plant) continually producing edible parts: perpetual spinach
-
a plant that blooms throughout the growing season
Synonym Usage
See eternal.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of perpetual
First recorded in 1300–50; late Middle English perpetuall, from Latin perpetuālis “permanent, universal, general,” equivalent to perpetu(us) “continuous, uninterrupted” ( per- “through, thoroughly” + pet-, base of petere “to seek, reach for” + -uus adjective suffix derived from a verb) + -ālis adjective suffix; replacing Middle English perpetuel, from Middle French, from Latin as above; see per-, -al 1
Explanation
Use the adjective perpetual to describe something that never ends or changes. If you're a perpetual procrastinator, your dilly-dallying ways are never going to improve. It may be true that the only constant is change, but English nevertheless has no shortage of words to describe things that never change: everlasting, eternal, and permanent, for example — and this word, perpetual, from the Latin perpetuus, "continuous." In casual usage, though, you might hear someone say "This perpetual bad weather needs to clear." Maybe it should come as no surprise to find people using the word to describe things that are not truly everlasting — since so few things really are.
Vocabulary lists containing perpetual
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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Essential Academic Vocabulary for High School Students, List 2
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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.
On Tuesday morning, SpaceX shares were trading at about $157 on Hyperliquid External link, a cryptocurrency platform for trading perpetual futures—or futures that never expire.
From Barron's • Jun. 9, 2026
They gave the U.S. a perpetual concession for the cemetery where most of those fallen Americans are buried.
From Salon • Jun. 9, 2026
A Cboe spokesperson said that the company does not view the CFTC’s perpetual futures approval as a “meaningful risk.”
From Barron's • Jun. 8, 2026
Escorted by actor and perpetual emcee Bob Hope, Sam the Eagle descended the L.A.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 6, 2026
Barely unpacked from Caldwell, his perpetual restlessness was back with a vengeance.
From "Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho" by Jon Katz
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.
