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Webster 1913 Edition


Persist

Per-sist′

,
Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Persisted
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Persisting
.]
[L.
persistere
;
per + sistere
to stand or be fixed, fr.
stare
to stand: cf. F.
persister
. See
Per-
, and
Stand
.]
To stand firm; to be fixed and unmoved; to stay; to continue steadfastly; especially, to continue fixed in a course of conduct against opposing motives; to persevere; – sometimes conveying an unfavorable notion, as of doggedness or obstinacy.
If they
persist
in pointing their batteries against particular persons, no laws of war forbid the making reprisals.
Addison.
Some positive,
persisting
fops we know,
Who, if once wrong, will needs be always so.
Pope.
That face
persists
.
It floats up; it turns over in my mind.
Mrs. Browning.
Syn. – See
Persevere
, and
Insist
.

Webster 1828 Edition


Persist

PERSIST'

,
Verb.
I.
[L. persisto; per and sisto, to stand or be fixed.]
To continue steadily and firmly in the pursuit of any business or course commenced; to persevere. [Persist is nearly synonymous with persevere; but persist frequently implies more obstinacy than persevere, particularly in that which is evil or injurious to others.]
If they persist in pointing their batteries against particular persons, no laws of war forbid the making reprisals.

Definition 2024


persist

persist

English

Verb

persist (third-person singular simple present persists, present participle persisting, simple past and past participle persisted)

  1. (intransitive) To go on stubbornly or resolutely.
  2. (intransitive) To repeat an utterance.
  3. (intransitive) To continue to exist.
  4. (computing, transitive) To cause to persist; make permanent.
    • 2006, Marco Bellinaso, ASP.NET 2.0 Website Programming
      This would not be saved after his session terminates because we don't have an actual user identity to allow us to persist the settings.
    • 2009, Alistair Croll, Sean Power, Complete Web Monitoring
      While hashtags aren't formally part of Twitter, some clients, such as Tweetdeck, will persist hashtags across replies to create a sort of message threading.

Synonyms

  • (go on stubbornly or resolutely): persevere, see also Wikisaurus:persevere
  • (continue to exist): last, remain

Derived terms

Translations

See also

Anagrams