DictionaryAI

permanent

SayPUR-muh-nuhnt/ˈpɜɹ.mə.nənt/UK/ˈpɜː.mə.nənt/

Noun pluralpermanents

Verbpermanents, permanenting, permanented

5 meanings of permanent

Practice

  1. 1
    lasting foreveradjective
    Lasting or meant to last for a very long time or forever; not temporary.

    The treaty established a permanent border between the two nations.

    She accepted a permanent position with the firm after her trial period.

  2. 2
    hair treatmentnouncountable
    A chemical hair treatment that adds or removes curliness, with effects that typically last for several months.

    Her grandmother got a permanent every few months to keep her tight curls.

    The stylist recommended a permanent for extra volume before the photoshoot.

    UsageOften shortened to perm: get a perm, have a perm.

    Similarperm

    Note

    A name that promises more than it delivers. The treatment lasts months, not forever, so the noun leans loosely on the "long-lasting" adjective. Raymond Chandler's The High Window gives one character hair "set in a ruthless permanent," which shows the noun at home in hard-edged period prose.

  3. 3
    curl hairverbdatedtransitive
    To treat the hair chemically so it holds curl or straightness; to give the hair a perm.

    My grandmother remembered saving for weeks so the beauty shop could permanent her hair for her first dance.

    Hairdressers in those days would permanent hair using harsh chemical solutions.

    UsageToday perm is the usual verb: she had her hair permed.

    Similarperm, curl

    Note

    A dated verb made straight from the hairdresser's noun: a stylist permanented hair, or was busy permanenting it. It takes the hair as its object, and the treatment it gives is the "permanent" of the salon. Today perm is the usual verb: she had her hair permed.

Less common meanings

  1. 4
    noun
    In Magic: The Gathering and similar card games, a card or token on the battlefield, such as a creature or land, that stays in play until something removes it.
  2. 5
    noun
    A number computed from a square matrix as the sum, over all permutations, of the products of entries taken one from each row and column.

Practice

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Origin

Latin permaneō ("I stay through") lies behind permanēns, which reached Middle English as permanent by way of Middle French permanent; the word is first recorded in the 15th century.