persist

American  

[per-sist, -zist] / pərˈsɪst, -ˈzɪst /

verb (used without object)

• persists,
  present (3rd person singular)
• persisted,
  past participle,  past
• persisting
  present participle

1. to continue steadfastly or firmly in some state, purpose, course of action, or the like, especially in spite of opposition, remonstrance, etc..

   to persist in working for world peace;

   to persist in unpopular political activities.

2. to last or endure tenaciously.

   The legend of King Arthur has persisted for nearly fifteen centuries.

3. to be insistent in a statement, request, question, etc.

   Synonyms:

   insist

---

verb (used with object)

• persists,
  present (3rd person singular)
• persisted,
  past participle,  past
• persisting
  present participle

1. Computers. to cause (a record, configuration, value, etc.) to be written to permanent storage by the scripted process that created it, so that it continues to exist in the same state after the script has finished running.

persist British  

/ pəˈsɪst /

verb

1. (often foll by in) to continue steadfastly or obstinately despite opposition or difficulty

2. to continue to exist or occur without interruption

   the rain persisted throughout the night

---

Synonym Usage

See continue.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• persister
  noun
• persistiveness
  noun
• nonpersisting
  adjective
• persistive
  adjective
• unpersisting
  adjective
• persistingly
  adverb
• persistively
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Participles

• persisting
  present
• persisted
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• persist
  simple
• persists
  simple
• have persisted
  perfect
• has persisted
  perfect
• am persisting
  progressive
• are persisting
  progressive
• is persisting
  progressive
• have been persisting
  perfect progressive
• has been persisting
  perfect progressive

Past

• persisted
  simple
• had persisted
  perfect
• was persisting
  progressive
• were persisting
  progressive
• had been persisting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will persist
  simple
• will have persisted
  perfect
• will be persisting
  progressive
• will have been persisting
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of persist

First recorded in 1530–40; from Latin persistere, literally, “to stand firm permanently,” equivalent to per- per- ( def. ) + sistere “to (cause to) stand,” akin to stāre “to stand ( def. ) ”

Explanation

When someone persists they keep going or hang on. If you want to finish a marathon, you have to persist and keep running, no matter how many blisters you have. The great Roman poet Ovid once advised: “Endure and persist, this pain will turn good by and by.” As Ovid’s quote hints at, persistence is often associated with hardship and the reward that comes with not backing down. Synonyms include endure, follow through, and persevere, while antonyms include cease and give up.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

persist persists persisted persisting

Stevia also altered gene expression, but the changes were weaker and did not persist beyond one generation.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 31, 2026

That’s because some idiosyncratic factors contributed to these recent growth rates, making it even less likely they will persist indefinitely.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 29, 2026

Indonesian exports are expected to remain under pressure in the second half, with monthly trade deficits likely to persist as imports continue to outpace outbound shipments, RHB economist Wong Xian Yong said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

Ghodla and Ilie investigated whether the descendants of such ancient seeds could persist through cosmic time, grow alongside their host galaxies, eventually pair up, and generate the gravitational wave background detected billions of years later.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 27, 2026

Despite mounting casualties, General Haig was determined to persist, no matter how wet the battlefield became.

From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman

"This work points to a completely different way of testing their possible role in cosmic history. Their descendants could leave a gravitational-wave imprint that persists all the way to the present-day Universe."

From Science Daily ● Aug. 27, 2026

The pond at Pond Farm on Wisley Common, adjacent to RHS Garden Wisley, has been drying up over recent weeks as the hot weather persists.

From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026

—Yields on U.K. government bonds climbed due to elevated oil prices and inflation concerns as the U.S.-Iran conflict persists.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026

"The longer that high inflation persists, the more challenging and costly it can be to bring it back down."

From Barron's ● Jul. 31, 2026

Primary thoroughfares have a way of persisting through the indignities of time—though Manhattan Island has been entirely resurfaced by human hands, the old Indian trail through it persists as Broadway.

From "Circumference" by Nicholas Nicastro

"By sequencing historical specimens, including the original type specimens, we were able to answer questions that have persisted for generations," she added.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 30, 2026

The Aztecs’ language, a strand of Nahuatl, is still spoken by over one million indigenous people in rural villages, while many Aztec traditions quietly persisted.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

A strong pace of inflows has persisted since then, even as the ETF briefly touched its lowest price since 2004.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 27, 2026

The pattern has persisted across the continental United States this summer but has been especially dramatic in coastal Southern California, Swain said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026

“What are the larger sharks going to eat if there are no dogfish?” he persisted.

From "The Line Tender" by Kate Allen

If Sapiens women had, in fact, regularly entered Neanderthal groups, we would expect to see a recent genetic signal of Sapiens ancestry persisting among the last Neanderthals.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 7, 2026

And the report highlighted the dangerous combination of persisting financial vulnerabilities and the "exuberant risk appetite" in financial markets, warning the situation "could unwind abruptly".

From Barron's ● Jun. 28, 2026

With the recent rotation into memory and other semiconductor names, market leadership is increasingly predicated on current supply-and-demand dynamics persisting.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 26, 2026

With the heat persisting into Tuesday across south-eastern areas, some locations may enter official heatwave conditions with temperatures above 27C or 28C for three consecutive days.

From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2026

I was persisting in reading my present environment in the light of my old one.

From "Black Boy" by Richard Wright

Related Words

• carry on
• carry over
• continue
• endure
• go on
• linger
• persevere
• prevail
• pursue
• recur
• remain