pervious

American  

[pur-vee-uhs] / ˈpɜr vi əs /

adjective

1. admitting of passage or entrance; permeable.

   pervious soil.

2. open or accessible to reason, feeling, argument, etc..

   Unfortunately, she was pervious to whatever rationale had been most recently presented.

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pervious British  

/ ˈpɜːvɪəs /

adjective

1. able to be penetrated; permeable

2. receptive to new ideas; open-minded

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Other Word Forms

• perviously adverb
• perviousness noun
• semipervious adjective
• semiperviousness noun
• unpervious adjective
• unperviously adverb
• unperviousness noun

Etymology

Origin of pervious

First recorded in 1625–30; from Latin pervius “passable,” equivalent to per- “through” + vi(a) “way, road” + -us adjective suffix; per-, -ous

Compare meaning

How does pervious compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• pervious vs. impervious

Example Sentences

This hot, mineral-rich, and often smokey water seeks the most pervious path through the Earth's crust and encounters cold, oxygen-rich water at the sea floor.

From Science Daily • Mar. 15, 2024

The company also expects an insurance margin in fiscal 2024 of 13.5%–15.5%, higher than the pervious year's margin of 12.6%.

From Reuters • Aug. 20, 2023

Reminisce about the Bluebonnet Bowl, the postseason game once played in the old Houston Astrodome that was the setting for the only pervious matchup of the Boilermakers and Volunteers in 1979.

From Fox News • Dec. 14, 2021

The seizure is the largest of its kind in the UK - beating the pervious record set when the Met confiscated £114m of cryptocurrency on 24 June.

From BBC • Jul. 13, 2021

Some of these ducts and arteries soon entirely close, and in some instances degenerate into impervious cords with new and important offices; some are transformed into true ligaments, while others remain pervious.

From What a Young Husband Ought to Know by Stall, Sylvanus