Synonyms

persist

American

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

verb (used without object)

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.
to last or endure tenaciously.

The legend of King Arthur has persisted for nearly fifteen centuries.
to be insistent in a statement, request, question, etc.

Synonyms:

insist

verb (used with object)

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

(often foll by in) to continue steadfastly or obstinately despite opposition or difficulty
to continue to exist or occur without interruption

the rain persisted throughout the night

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Synonym Usage

See continue.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

Conjugated Forms

Present

Past

Future

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.

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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:

persist persists persisted persisting

Skills persist and feed on one another, and skill already in place raises the return on new investment, so by the same logic early investment fades unless it is followed up.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026

Firms say energy debt has jumped and, with high bills likely to persist, have called for more support for those struggling to pay.

From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026

But his bigger worry is that a lack of change in the U.S. fiscal picture will persist — until it triggers a crisis.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 23, 2026

After meeting Greer on Thursday, LeBlanc told reporters "we're very close," promising to persist until a deal is done.

From Barron's ● Aug. 21, 2026

Some syllabaries persist today, the most important being the kana syllabary that the Japanese use for telegrams, bank statements, and texts for blind readers.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

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

“Nick cannot show that Mr. Kanin’s conduct — rather than the unresolved legal question that persists under an entirely different trustee — caused any delay in his receipt of the distribution.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 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

The onset of this symptom is most sudden, and once it has begun, it persists without interruption until amnesia sets in.

From "The Mysterious Benedict Society" by Trenton Lee Stewart

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

The informal mechanism has persisted, in various forms, despite criticism from countries opposed to the opaque process.

From Barron's ● Aug. 21, 2026

Using the new tools, the team obtained an updated melting temperature that matched computer simulations almost perfectly, resolving a disagreement that had persisted for roughly two decades.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 20, 2026

Instead, the shocks have persisted and now overlap with a surge in demand from the artificial-intelligence build-out that is raising prices for technology equipment and software.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026

The odd chill that had lain over Privet Drive for two weeks persisted here too.

From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling

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

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

"We have evidence that terrorist content and illegal hate speech is persisting on some of the largest social media sites," said Oliver Griffiths, Ofcom's online safety director.

From Barron's ● May 15, 2026

The IEA’s own worst-case scenario projects deficits persisting all year, with cumulative losses approaching 2 billion barrels by December.

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 16, 2026

Once China was finally unified, in 221 B.C., no other independent state ever had a chance of arising and persisting for long in China.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023