perpetuate
Americanverb (used with object)
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perpetuates,
present (3rd person singular)
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perpetuated,
past participle, past
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perpetuating
present participle
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to enable or allow the continuation of into the future; keep alive (used most often in reference to something considered harmful or false): Vines obscured a plaque intended to perpetuate her memory.
Social media played a significant role in perpetuating political divisions.
Vines obscured a plaque intended to perpetuate her memory.
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to preserve from extinction or oblivion: perpetuate the species.
to perpetuate one's name;
perpetuate the species.
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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perpetuancenoun
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perpetuationnoun
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perpetuatornoun
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perpetuableadjective
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unperpetuableadjective
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unperpetuatingadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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perpetuatesimple
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perpetuatessimple
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have perpetuatedperfect
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has perpetuatedperfect
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am perpetuatingprogressive
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are perpetuatingprogressive
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is perpetuatingprogressive
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have been perpetuatingperfect progressive
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has been perpetuatingperfect progressive
Past
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perpetuatedsimple
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had perpetuatedperfect
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was perpetuatingprogressive
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were perpetuatingprogressive
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had been perpetuatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of perpetuate
First recorded in 1520–30; from Latin perpetuātus (past participle of perpetuāre, derivative of perpetuus “uninterrupted”); see perpetual, -ate 1
Explanation
Some things should last forever and others should not be perpetuated at all. Things that should NOT be perpetuated? Ugly rumors, arms races, and your Aunt Martha's annual fruit cake. Be careful not to confuse perpetuate with perpetrate. Although they differ in spelling by only one letter, they differ greatly in meaning. If you perpetuate something, you help it last. Perpetrate, on the other hand, means to commit a criminal act. Needless to say, you wouldn't want to perpetuate the acts of perpetrators!
Vocabulary lists containing perpetuate
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Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address (1865)
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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.
See Examples For:
What we don't want, he added, was for an "unhealthy version of the race narrative to perpetuate", potentially escalating an already fierce rivalry in AI.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
He has advocated for removing homeless people from the streets, including with involuntary, temporary psychiatric holds, and said the city should “not perpetuate and indulge their addiction.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 21, 2026
AI applications pose unaddressed privacy risks and perpetuate healthcare bias when patients upload medical data to chatbots, potentially exposing personal information to insurance decisions while reflecting cultural disparities embedded in training data.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 26, 2026
Springsteen takes up the story and adds a moment where a man seeking what he believes is retribution against his friends decides to take another path instead and not perpetuate the cycle of violence.
From Salon ● Feb. 10, 2026
Understanding is more often used to try to alter an outcome than to repeat or perpetuate it.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Advocates and researchers say this practice perpetuates negative stereotypes and harms the lives and business of real people.
From Barron's ● Jun. 18, 2026
"Our tax system created it and perpetuates it. People like me should pay more, it's as simple as that."
From BBC ● Nov. 19, 2025
“It perpetuates the problem. It creates a false equality, by eliminating any opportunity to excel.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 22, 2025
“This actually perpetuates the stereotype that downtown is dirty, filthy, unsafe,” Sebastián said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 24, 2025
It perpetuates the myth that the primary function of the system is to keep our streets safe and our homes secure by rooting out dangerous criminals and punishing them.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
And it was about reforming the cultural structures that created and perpetuated those systems.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
In 2024 then–Surgeon General Vivek Murthy identified one of the main culprits: “A ‘culture of comparison’—often perpetuated online—around milestones, parenting and achievements, ‘has left many families feeling exhausted, burned out, and perpetually behind.’
From Slate ● Aug. 11, 2026
“Defendant’s lies to the victim clients perpetuated Girardi’s theft in real time.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2025
Siddiq said a meeting "might also help clear up the misunderstanding perpetuated by the Anti-Corruption Commission in Dhaka".
From BBC ● Jun. 12, 2025
But I had perpetuated the Mandela name and the Madiba clan, which is one of the basic responsibilities of a Xhosa male.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
Had anyone involved in perpetuating it stopped to consider that it wasn’t harmless?
From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2026
Volsche says many a cat-dad defender wrote in arguing that they were perpetuating negative stereotypes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
Established in 2020, Sarah's Trust was "dedicated to supporting frontline, grassroots work to address the humanitarian and environmental crisis, the hunger crisis and issues perpetuating cycles of extreme poverty", according to its website.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
Synchronous to the debates around heroic police characters in TV and movies that “Bad Boys” contributes to perpetuating are critiques concerning the commodification of Black pain.
From Salon ● Dec. 6, 2022
Could it be that we are so interested in spaceflight because it is a way of perpetuating ourselves beyond our own lifetimes?
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
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.
