perpetual

American  

[per-pech-oo-uhl] / pərˈpɛtʃ u əl /

adjective

1. continuing or enduring forever; everlasting.

   Synonyms:

   enduring, permanent

   Antonyms:

   temporary

2. lasting an indefinitely long time.

   perpetual snow.

3. continuing or continued without intermission or interruption; ceaseless.

   a perpetual stream of visitors all day.

   Synonyms:

   uninterrupted, unending, constant, incessant, continuous

   Antonyms:

   discontinuous

4. blooming almost continuously throughout the season or the year.

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noun

1. a hybrid rose that is perpetual.

2. a perennial plant.

perpetual British  

/ pəˈpɛtjʊəl /

adjective

1. (usually prenominal) eternal; permanent

2. (usually prenominal) seemingly ceaseless because often repeated

   your perpetual complaints

3. horticulture blooming throughout the growing season or year

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noun

1. (of a crop plant) continually producing edible parts: perpetual spinach

2. a plant that blooms throughout the growing season

Related Words

See eternal.

Other Word Forms

• nonperpetual adjective
• perpetuality noun
• perpetually adverb
• perpetualness noun
• quasi-perpetual adjective

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.

Example Sentences

Consider that the single-largest perpetual private-credit fund has to deploy roughly $43 billion a year just to stay invested — more than a quarter of the entire U.S. annual direct lending market.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 22, 2026

The much harder work is getting out of survival mode — the all-consuming pressures of eternal presentism and perpetual crisis — and into a mode and discipline of building what comes after.

From Salon • Apr. 20, 2026

A perpetual mow-the-grass strategy also risks recurrent global economic disruptions.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 8, 2026

There were roughly $138 billion worth of perpetual BDC net assets as of the fourth quarter.

From Barron's • Apr. 7, 2026

Even these sternly hopeless Norsemen, whose daily life in their icy land through the black winters was a perpetual challenge to heroism, saw a far-away light break through the darkness.

From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton

Related Words

• ceaseless
• constant
• continued
• continuous
• endless
• enduring
• eternal
• incessant
• infinite
• interminable
• never-ending
• perennial
• permanent
• persistent
• recurring
• unceasing
• unending