pervasive

P3E1R1V4A1S1I1V4E1
UK/pəˈveɪ.sɪv/Canada, US/pɚˈveɪ.sɪv/Australia/pəˈvæɪ.sɪv/New Zealand/pəˈvæɪ.səv/

adjective

Manifested throughout; pervading, permeating, penetrating or affecting everything.

“The medication had a pervasive effect on the patient's health.”

Similar
penetratingpermeatingpervadingpermeantpermeativedistributive
OriginLatin pervāsus →
Less commonScrabble 17
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Meanings

adjectivepervasive (comparative more pervasive, superlative most pervasive)

comparative more pervasive · superlative most pervasive

  1. Manifested throughout; pervading, permeating, penetrating or affecting everything.

    The medication had a pervasive effect on the patient's health.

    1 more example

    Mr Xi is also struggling with issues within his carefully-constructed power structure. The unexplained disappearances of key members of his leadership team and military top brass could be seen as either signs of pervasive corruption or political purges.

    2023 November 15, Tessa Wong, “Xi Jinping arrives in US as his Chinese Dream sputters”, in BBC

    Synonyms: penetrating, permeating, pervading

Synonyms & antonyms

adjectiveManifested throughout; pervading, permeating, penetrating or affecting everything.

Similar
penetratingpermeatingpervading

More synonyms by meaning

adjectivespreading or spread throughout

Similar
permeantpermeatingpermeativedistributive
Also see
commonepidemicfar-flungpandemicpermeantpermeativeprevailingubiquitouswidespread

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Latinpervāsus
  2. Englishpervasive

From Latin pervāsus, from pervādō (“spread through, pervade”), from per (“through”) + vādō (“go, walk”).

More words from Latin

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian всеобхватен
  • всеобхватен (vseobhvaten)manifested throughout
Chinese Mandarin 無處不在的 /无处不在的
  • 無處不在的 /无处不在的 (wúchùbùzài de)manifested throughout
Danish gennemtrængende
  • gennemtrængendemanifested throughout
Dutch doordringend
  • doordringendmanifested throughout
Finnish kokonaisvaltainen
  • kokonaisvaltainenmanifested throughout
French pénétrant, envahissant
  • pénétrantmanifested throughout
  • envahissantmanifested throughout
German durchdringend
  • durchdringendmanifested throughout
Hungarian átható
  • áthatómanifested throughout
Māori rangiwhāwhā
  • rangiwhāwhāmanifested throughout
Norwegian gjennomtrengende
  • gjennomtrengendemanifested throughout
Persian فراگیر
  • فراگیر (farâgir)manifested throughout
Polish wszechobecny, wszechogarniający
  • wszechobecnymanifested throughout
  • wszechogarniającymanifested throughout
Portuguese pervasivo
  • pervasivomanifested throughout
Russian распространяющийся, проникающий
  • распространяющийся (rasprostranjajuščijsja)manifested throughout
  • проникающий (pronikajuščij)manifested throughout
  • пропитывающий (propityvajuščij)manifested throughout
  • заполняющий (zapolnjajuščij)manifested throughout
Spanish penetrante, determinante
  • penetrantemanifested throughout
  • determinantemanifested throughout
  • dominantemanifested throughout
  • ubicuomanifested throughout
  • pervasivomanifested throughout
Swedish genomträngande, genomgående
  • genomträngandemanifested throughout
  • genomgåendemanifested throughout
Turkish yaygın
  • yaygınmanifested throughout
Vietnamese lan toả, rộng khắp
  • lan toảmanifested throughout
  • rộng khắpmanifested throughout
Cite this entry
APA

pervasive. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pervasive

MLA

“pervasive.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pervasive. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pervasive,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pervasive.

Source: pervasive on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.