DictionaryAI

persist

verb
pur-SIST/pɚˈsɪst/UKpuh-SIST/pəˈsɪst/

Formspersists, persisting, persisted

5 meanings of persist

Practice

  1. 1
    verbintransitive
    To go on with an action stubbornly or resolutely, refusing to give up despite difficulty or opposition.

    Despite repeated rejections, she persisted in submitting her novel to publishers.

    Negotiators who persist through early setbacks often reach better agreements.

    Similarpersevere, continue, insist

    Oppositedesist, quit, stop

    Note

    The image underneath is physical. Middle French persister comes from Latin persistere, built from per- and sistere, 'to stand', so the verb pictures someone holding their ground. It usually takes in before the course of action: Norman Angell warned in 1912 of Britain persisting in her present course of unpreparedness. The word can praise resolve or criticize stubbornness, and context decides which.

  2. 2
    verbintransitive
    To continue to exist.

    Rumors of a merger persisted long after the company denied them.

    Certain chemicals persist in the environment for decades after use.

    Similarlinger, remain, last, continue, endure

    Oppositedisappear, fade, vanish

    Note

    Here the subject has no will at all. It is a thing that simply lasts: a prejudice, a rumor, a chemical, the toothy giants Tim Flannery places in prehistoric oceans in Europe: A Natural History (2018). Nothing is being resisted, so the sense sits apart from the stubborn, willed meaning. It usually takes a phrase of place or time, as in persist in the oceans or persist for decades, rather than in plus an action.

  3. 3
    verbintransitive
    To repeat an utterance; to say the same thing again.

    "I saw him take the money," the witness persisted under cross-examination.

    Customers sometimes persist with the same complaint even after receiving an answer.

    Similarinsist, maintain, repeat, reiterate

  4. 4
    verbtransitive
    To cause data or a change to remain after a process ends; to make permanent, typically by saving it to storage.

    The service persists each transaction to the database before sending a confirmation.

    Developers persist user preferences locally so the app remembers them between sessions.

    Similarsave, store, write

    Note

    Computing made the verb transitive: a program persists settings, transactions or session state. It writes what lives only in memory to durable storage, such as a database or file, so that it survives a shutdown or restart. In effect it is the causative partner of continuing to exist. Look for it with to (persist to the database) and across (persist hashtags across replies).

Less common meaning

  1. 5
    verbobsoleteintransitive
    To continue to be in a given state or condition; to remain.

    Similarremain, continue, last, endure

    Note

    Here the verb once worked as a linking verb. It joined a subject to an adjective the way remain does, as in he persisted loyal, and its nearest synonym was hold, as in hold firm. The use is obsolete. Outside deliberately old-fashioned prose, remain or stay does this job, and persist followed by an adjective is best avoided.

Practice

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Origin

From Middle French persister, from Latin persistere, formed from per- plus sistere ("to stand").