pervasive

[per-vey-siv]

adjective

1. spread throughout.

   The corruption is so pervasive that it is accepted as the way to do business.

pervasive

/ pɜːˈveɪsɪv /

adjective

1. pervading or tending to pervade

Other Word Forms

• pervasively adverb
• pervasiveness noun
• interpervasive adjective
• interpervasively adverb
• nonpervasive adjective
• nonpervasively adverb
• unpervasive adjective
• unpervasively adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of pervasive¹

First recorded in 1730–40; equivalent to Latin pervās(us), past participle of pervādere “to pass through” + -ive ( def. ); pervade ( def. )

Word History and Origins

Origin of pervasive¹

C18: from Latin pervāsus, past participle of pervādere to _pervade

Example Sentences

Compared to the current Street consensus estimate of $4.5 billion, “this seems fine especially given the pervasive negativity among nearly every investor with whom we speak,” analysts wrote.

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The core disputes at the court this year reflect controversial factual questions about gender and race: How pervasive and influential is racism in the current day?

Read more on Salon

Above all, we experience a pervasive miasma of helplessness as we are forced to watch this intolerable train wreck.

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“These initiatives really negate and mitigate the very pervasive idea of seeing immigrants as permanent foreigners in this country only because of their color or language,” Syed said.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

"No other population is under such restrictions in today's world," it concluded, adding that surveillance had become "more pervasive", helped in part by advances in technology.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• common 
• inescapable 
• omnipresent 
• prevalent 
• rife 
• ubiquitous 
• universal