persistent

From Latin persistēns, present participle of persistō (“to continue steadfastly”). Synchronically analyzable as persist +‎ -ent.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /pɚˈsɪstənt/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /pəˈsɪstənt/
• Hyphenation: per‧sis‧tent

persistent (comparative more persistent, superlative most persistent)

1. Obstinately refusing to give up or let go.

   She has had a persistent cough for weeks.

   • 2011 November 10, Jeremy Wilson, “England Under 21 5 Iceland Under 21 0: match report”, in Telegraph‎:

     The most persistent tormentor was Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who scored a hat-trick in last month’s corresponding fixture in Iceland. His ability to run at defences is instantly striking, but it is his clever use of possession that has persuaded some shrewd judges that he is an even better prospect than Theo Walcott.

2. Insistently repetitive.

   There was a persistent knocking on the door.

3. Indefinitely continuous.

   There have been persistent rumours for years.

4. (botany) Lasting past maturity without falling off.

   Pine cones have persistent scales.

   • 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, New York, N.Y.: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page 4:

     The Jubulaceae have a leaf whose lobule, usually transformed into a water-sac, is normally very narrowly attached to the stem and to the dorsal lobe; indeed some Frullania taxa reproduce vegetatively by dropping the dorsal lobes, but not the lobules, and Neohattoria has caducous lobules but persistent lobes.

5. (computing) Of data or a data structure: not transient or temporary, but remaining in existence after the termination of the program that creates it.

   Once written to a disk file, the data becomes persistent: it will still be there tomorrow when we run the next program.

6. (mathematics) Describing a fractal process that has a positive Brown function
7. (mathematics, stochastic processes, of a state) non-transient.

• pinsetters, presentist, prettiness, serpentist

• Homophones: persiste, persistes

persistent

1. third-person plural present indicative of persister
2. third-person plural present subjunctive of persister

persistent

1. third-person plural future active indicative of persistō