perpetuate
Americanverb (used with object)
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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:
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
“If this data has been absconded or downloaded, you could perpetuate fraud against every single government system in existence much more easily than at any time in our history.”
From MarketWatch ● Feb. 4, 2026
Fisheries Minister Joanne Thompson rejected that plan, saying it would perpetuate the whales' exploitation.
From Barron's ● Jan. 26, 2026
It suggests something more uncomfortable: that how protests are conducted determines whether they clarify and ameliorate injustice or obscure and perpetuate it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 16, 2026
“No, perpetuate means to keep something going!' Like I am perpetuating your stupidity, Adina thought. “
From "Beauty Queens" by Libba Bray
The back-and-forth fosters confusion but also distrust, she said: "It further perpetuates the myth of like, the sketchy abortion doctor in the back alley."
From Barron's ● May 10, 2026
“It perpetuates the problem. It creates a false equality, by eliminating any opportunity to excel.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 22, 2025
“I do love being at home because a lot of times that’s what perpetuates it, the home crowd, the energy,” said Roberts.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2025
The Sound of Music fuses fiction and nonfiction, perpetuates myths, and shapes viewers’ sense of the past for better or worse, giving us beloved scenes and songs in the process.
From Slate ● Jan. 26, 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
There is a bizarre universe built around the prestige and untouchability of the court that is first and foremost perpetuated by the people on the court.
From Slate ● May 13, 2026
The Church Committee stopped short of concluding that Cointelpro deliberately perpetuated extremism, but its report made clear that blurring the line between monitoring and participation might have encouraged informants to keep the activity going.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026
“At the time,” Nacua posted on Instagram, “I had no idea this act was antisemitic in nature and perpetuated harmful stereotypes against Jewish people.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 19, 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
Nineteenth-century news media perpetuated the belief that young women were passive, incapable of deep thought or deep deception.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
"Platforms and products disproportionately fail us in basic safety, data privacy, transparency, and accuracy -- including perpetuating factually incorrect information about our lives."
From Barron's ● Jun. 30, 2026
The cases are using a similar script to past ones accusing pharmaceutical companies of perpetuating the opioid epidemic or tobacco companies of failing to warn about harm from cigarettes, cases that led to multibillion-dollar settlements.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 26, 2026
Jane Doe 5 also seeks legal action against Frances Robinson, whom she accuses of perpetuating “a hostile work environment.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 20, 2025
His grandson's enrolment into the army - announced in July - is seen as perpetuating the family dynasty.
From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2025
My heart told me that I was a Thembu, that I had been raised and sent to school so that I could play a special role in perpetuating the kingship.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
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.
