persistent

comparative more persistent · superlative most persistent

1. Obstinately refusing to give up or let go.

   She has had a persistent cough for weeks.

   1 more example

   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.

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

2. Insistently repetitive.

   There was a persistent knocking on the door.

3. Indefinitely continuous.

   There have been persistent rumours for years.

   1 more example

   Although many individuals seek meaningful social connection, they face persistent barriers to sustaining relationships, including communication difficulties, social rejection, loneliness, and limited social opportunities (Elmose, 2019; Mendelson et al., 2016; Sosnowy et al., 2019). The gap between social motivation and real-life opportunities for social interaction may contribute to persistent social isolation in this population.

   2025 August 13, Müjdat Erarkadaş, Kübra Özmeral Erarkadaş, Şahika Gülen Şişmanlar, “Autism Spectrum Disorder Beyond Childhood: A Comprehensive Assessment of Activities of Daily Living and Social Functioning in Turkish Adults”, in Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, →DOI

4. biologyLasting past maturity without falling off.

   Pine cones have persistent scales.

   1 more example

   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.

   1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page 4

5. computingOf 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. mathematicsDescribing a fractal process that has a positive Brown function
7. stochastic processesmathematicsnon-transient.