Persist

  

Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.

Persist

Definitions: Persist

Persist

Verb

1. Continue to exist; "These stories die hard".

2. Be persistent, refuse to stop; "he persisted to call me every night"; "The child persisted and kept asking questions".

3. Stay behind; "The smell stayed in the room"; "The hostility remained long after they made up".

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "persist" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1010. (references)

Note: Persist \Per*sist"\, intransitive verb. [imperative past participle Persisted; present participle verb or noun Persisting.]. (Websters 1913)


Synonyms: Persist

Synonyms: die hard (v), endure (v), hang in (v), hang on (v), hold on (v), persevere (v), prevail (v), remain (v), run (v), stay (v). (additional references)

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Synonyms within Context: Persist

ContextSynonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).

Activity

Verb: be active; Adjective: busy oneself in; stir, stir about, stir one's stumps; bestir oneself, rouse oneself; speed, hasten, peg away, lay about one, bustle, fuss; raise up, kick up a dust; push; make a push, make a fuss, make a stir; go ahead, push forward; fight one's way, elbow one's way; make progress; toll; (labor); plod, persist; (persevere) a; keep up the ball, keep the pot boiling.

Continuance in action

Verb: continue, persist; go on, jog on, keep on, run on, hold on; abide, keep, pursue, stick to its course, take its course, maintain its course; carry on, keep up.

Obstinacy

Verb: be obstinate; Adjective: stickle, take no denial, fly in the face of facts; opinionate, be wedded to an opinion, hug a belief; have one's own way; (will); persist; (persevere) a; have the last word, insist on having the last word.

Permanence

Verb: let alone, let be, let it be; persist, remain, stay, tarry, rest; stet; hold, hold on; last, endure, bide, abide, aby, dwell, maintain, keep; stand, stand still, stand fast; subsist, live, outlive, survive; hold one's ground, keep one's ground, hold one's footing, keep one's footing; hold good.

Perseverance

Verb: persevere, persist; hold on, hold out; die in the last ditch, be in at the death; stick to, cling to, adhere to; stick to one's text, keep on; keep to one's course, keep to one's ground, maintain one's course, maintain one's ground; go all lengths, go through fire and water; bear up, keep up, hold up; plod; stick to work; (work); continue; follow up; die in harness, die at one's post.

Resolution

Stick at nothing, stop at nothing; make short work of; (activity); not stick at trifles; go all lengths, go the limit, go the whole hog; persist; (persevere) a; go through fire and water, ride the tiger, ride in the whirlwind and direct the storm.

Time

Verb: continue last endure, go on, remain, persist; intervene; elapse; hold out.

Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

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Crosswords: Persist

English words defined with "persist": ask for it, ask for troublecarry over, course, course of actionhepatitis A, hepatitis Binfectious hepatitislastobstinatepersist in, Persisted, plug, plug awayserum hepatitis, spiny talinumTalinum spinescens, To stand out. (references)
Specialty definitions using "persist": AgabusBlack...White, Bullclassical biological controlfleeting informationilluminating surface of a signalling lamp other than a retro reflector, incapacitating agent, interrupt requestMinimum viable populationPersistent Functional Language, persistent organic pollutants, primary zonerepeated signal, Rhinitis, Allergic, PerennialSink habitattransient informationvaxocentrism. (references)
Etymologies containing "persist": Obstinatepersistent. (references)

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Modern Usage: Persist

DomainUsage

Screenplays

A myth I have allowed to persist until I am ready. (Children of Dune; writing credit: Frank Herbert; John Harrison)

Why do you persist in rescuing me, Mr. Bond? (On Her Majesty's Secret Service; writing credit: Richard Maibaum)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Commercial Usage: Persist

DomainTitle

Books

  • California Nursing Homes: Care Problems Persist Despite Federal and State Oversight (reference)

  • How Things Persist (reference)

  • If Symptoms Still Persist (reference)

  • Persist and Publish: Helpful Hints for Academic Writing and Publishing (reference)

  • Publish or Persist (reference)

    (more book examples)

  

Music

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Familiar Quotations: Persist

AuthorQuotation

Lord Chesterfield

Persist and persevere, and you will find most things that are attainable, possible.

Ovid

Endure and persist; this pain will turn to good by and by.

Publius Cornelius Tacitus

The brave and bold persist even against fortune; the timid and cowardly rush to despair though fear alone.

Thomas Hobbes

No mans error becomes his own Law; nor obliges him to persist in it.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Non-Fiction Usage: Persist

SubjectTopicQuote

Health

In some cases, CFS can persist for years. (references)

Infections may persist for 20 years in humans. (references)

Symptoms, which may be uncomfortable, may persist. (references)

Business

Trademark violations for many name-brand consumer products persist. (references)

However, unwritten quotas for both foreign films and foreign music persist. (references)

Given labors disdain for both, turmoil between labor and government is bound to persist. (references)

Children

Czech Republic

These NGO's reported that, although problems persist, the situation for persons with disabilities has received more attention and had improved greatly from that of only a few years ago. (references)

Economic History

Zimbabwe

Inflation and Interest Rates: Inflation, which first climbed above 50 percent (annualized basis) in 1999, continues to persist at painful levels with the official rate pegged at 58 percent for April 2001 (again annualized). (references)

Seychelles

In 2000, there were also encouraging performances in other sectors of service, namely the telecommunications sector, where the boom in mobile services continues to persist. (references)

Human Rights

Bahamas

Despite these measures to improve efficiency, complaints persist of excessive pretrial detention, outdated record keeping, delayed justice for victims, and a failure to update new laws in the books. (references)

Azerbaijan

In April 2000, the first qualifying exams for judges were administered as part of a judicial reform effort, but credible allegations that judgeships were bought and sold persist. (references)

Pakistan

In urban Sindh, the CPLC committees helped to curb some excesses, but complaints of large-scale police abuses persist. (references)

Minorities

Hungary

As a result, negative stereotypes of Roma as poor, shiftless, and a social burden persist. (references)

Bahamas

Although Haitians and Bahamians of Haitian descent generally are well integrated into society, interethnic tensions and inequities persist. (references)

Political Economy

Egypt

Although the Government has banned the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM), many families persist in subjecting their daughters to the traditional practice. (references)

Women

Papua New Guinea

However, traditional patterns of discrimination against women persist. (references)

Jordan

Most activists believe that even if Article 340 were repealed, honor crimes likely would persist, with sentences continuing to be reduced under Article 98. Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), a procedure widely condemned by international health experts as damaging to both physical and psychological health, rarely is practiced. (references)

Laos

Discrimination against women is not generalized; however, varying degrees of traditional culturally based discrimination persist, with greater discrimination practiced by some hill tribes. (references)

Worker Rights

Mauritania

The south has suffered less from desertification, and some reports identify it as the region in which vestiges and consequences of slavery persist most strongly. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

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Speeches: Persist

SpeakerTermPhrase(s)

Harry S. Truman

1945-1953The extent to which this unemployment will persist depends largely on the speed of industrial expansion and the effectiveness of the policies of the Federal Government.

Gerald Ford

1974-1977As conflict and rivalry persist in the world, our United States intelligence capabilities must be the best in the world.

Jimmy Carter

1977-1981Although refugee populations persist in camps in Southeast Asia, and refugees continue to flee Vietnam, Laos and Kampuchea, the flow is not as great as in the past.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Usage Frequency: Persist

"Persist" is generally used as a lexical verb (infinitive) -- approximately 55.78% of the time. "Persist" is used about 544 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)
Parts of SpeechPercentUsage per
100 Million Words
Rank in English
Lexical Verb (infinitive)55.78%30416,610
Lexical Verb (base form)44.22%24119,264
                    Total100.00%544N/A

Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

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Expressions: Persist

Expressions using "persist": persist in persist in foolishness persist in one's opinion. Additional references.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Frequency of Internet Keywords: Persist

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.
 
ExpressionFrequency
per Day

  persist

11

  info persist security

4

  persist technology

3

  author persist

2

  author entry persist registry

2
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Modern Translations: Persist

Language Translations for "persist"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.

Albanian

  

përsërit pa pushim (chant, ding), vazhdon (hold, hold out, last, progress, wear on), ngulmoj (insist, persevere, press), mbaj të njëjtin avaz, këmbëngul (insist, persevere, stick in), insistoj (insist). (various references)

   

Arabic 

  

‏واصل (carry on, continue, follow in his footsteps, gear, go on, hold on, keep, press, proceed, pursue, push, push along, push on, roll on, stay, stick to smth., sustain), ‏تمسك برايه, ‏صر (chirr, creak, grate, insist, jar, play up, press, rasp, screech, squeak, squeal), ‏إستمر (continue, drive up, endure, get back, get going, get on, go ahead, go in, go on, hold, hold on, keep, keep going, keep on, last, run on smth., sew on, subsist, take, wear out), ‏ثابر (lurk, persevere, stick), ‏ركب رأسه. (various references)

   

Bulgarian 

  

упорствувам (hang in, persevere, plug, press ahead with), оставам (abide, continue, endure, let, remain, remain behind, stay, stay behind, stick, void), настоявам (aver, insist, press, represent, require, solicit), запазвам се (keep, last, stand, stick, stick on, survive), задържам се (last, regain one's feet, stay on), постоянствувам (persevere, plug, plug away at). (various references)

   

Chinese 

  

坚持 (insist, Insisted, insistence, insisting, Persevere, Persevered, Persevering, Persisted, persistence, Persistency, persistent, Persisting). (various references)

   

Czech

  

vytrvat (hang on, hold on, hold out, persevere, press on, soldier on), trvat na (hold to, insist on, stand, stand out), setrvat (persevere). (various references)

   

Danish

  

i tilfaelde af alvorlige vanskeligheder,der vedvarende vil kunne ramme en oekonomisk sektor! (if difficulties arise which are ser ious and liable to persist in any sector of the economy). (various references)

   

Dutch

  

aanhouden (adjourn, arrest, continue, delay, endure, halt, hold, hold in abeyance, keep ... burning, keep on, last, persevere, postpone, procrastinate, pursue one's point, stop). (various references)

   

Esperanto

  

persisti (abide, persevere), obstini (be obstinate, be stubborn), insistadi (persevere, pursue one's point). (various references)

   

Faeroese

  

halda fram (abide, persevere). (various references)

   

Farsi 

  

پافشاری کردن (Insist), سماجت کردن (Dun, Importune), ایستادگی (Resistance), اصرارکردن (Haggle, Urge). (various references)

   

Finnish

  

pysyä (abide, keep, persevere, remain, stay). (various references)

   

French

  

persister (persevere), s'obstiner. (various references)

   

German

  

beharren (abide, insist, insistence, perseverance, persevere, persistence), fortdauern (continue, go on, persistence, subsist, to continue, to subsist), bestehen (abide, be available, be extant, come through, consist, consists, endure, exist, existence, insist, insistence, overcome, overcoming, pass, passing, persevere, to consists, to exist, withstand, withstanding). (various references)

   

Greek 

  

επιμένω (harp, insist, insist on, linger, linger on, persevere). (various references)

   

Hebrew 

  

להמשך (continue, last), להתמיד (abide, pursue, slog), להתעקש (be stubborn, insist). (various references)

   

Hungarian

  

kitart valami mellett (adhere to, face it out, insist upon), folytatódik (continue, proceed, to continue, to go on, to keep going, to proceed). (various references)

   

Indonesian

  

tetap melakukan, ngotot (be obstinate, persevere), berkuat (stick in there, stick with it). (various references)

   

Italian

  

persistere (continue, hold, obtain, resist), perseverare (keep, persevere, push forward, soldier on), perdurare (continue, go on, last), ostinarsi, ostinare, durare (clamp, continue, endure, go on, halt, hold, hold out, keep, keep on, last, stand, survive, uphold, wear). (various references)

   

Japanese Kanji 

  

頑張る (to insist on, to persist, to stand firm, to try one's best). (various references)

   

Japanese Katakana 

  

おしとおす (to carry out, to carry through, to have one's own way, to persist in, to push through), がんばる (to insist on, to persist, to stand firm, to try one's best), ねばる (to be adhesive, to be sticky, to persevere, to persist, to stick to), しつづける (to continue to do, to persist in doing), ふんばる (to brace one's legs, to hold out, to persist, to plant oneself, to stand firm, to straddle), かたくじせつをとる (to persist in one's views), いいとおす (to persist in saying), もちつづける (to persist in), とおす (to continue, to keep, to let pass, to make way for, to overlook, to persist in). (various references)

   

Korean 

  

지속하십시요. (various references)

   

Manx

  

foast ayn. (various references)

   

Papiamen

  

persistí (abide, persevere). (various references)

   

Pig Latin

  

ersistpay

   

Portuguese

  

teimar (insistance), persistir (abide, abide by, hold out, insist, live up to, persevere), perseverar (abide, insist, persevere), insistir (abide, insist, persevere, stress, urge). (various references)

   

Romanian

  

persista (continue, hold fast, linger), stãrui cu îndârjire, continua (bide, carry on, carry through, continue, follow, go on, hold, keep, keep it up, keep on, keep up, last, play off, proceed, prosecute, pursue, resume). (various references)

   

Russian 

  

упрямиться (balk, baulk, be obstinate), упорствовать (persevere, recalcitrate, stand out), сохраняться (outwear), оставаться (hold itself out as, remain, stay, stay in, stay over, stayed, stays, stop on), настоять (insist), артачиться (baulk, confront, resist, stand up to, withstand), а� (adventurous, alcohol, amphibious vehicle, automate, farm, lamb, orange, outline, poster, wheezy). (various references)

   

Serbo-Croatian

  

istrajati (persevere). (various references)

   

Spanish

  

persistir (exist, insist, linger, persevere, subsist), empeñarse (blind oneself, buck, buckle down to, insist). (various references)

   

Swedish

  

framhärda (persevere). (various references)

   

Turkish

  

sebat etmek (be constant, persevere), sürmek (apply, banish, bedaub, cast out, coat, continue, daub, distribute, drive, drive out, endure, exile, expatriate, expel, hang over, herd, last, lay on, lead, ostracize, outlaw, pitchfork, relegate, roll, rub, run, slip in, smear, splash, spread, steer, stock, stream, stuff, throw out, till, tool along, transport, wipe on), sürdürmek (carry on, continue, elongate, follow, go ahead with smth., keep, keep going, keep on, keep the ball rolling, keep up, lead, maintain, perpetuate, prolong, prosecute, pursue, remain, support, sustain, uphold, wage), inat etmek (balk, balk at, baulk, be obstinate, recalcitrate, stickle), devam etmek (attend, carry forward, carry over, continue, draw, endure, follow on, get along, go ahead, go ahead with smth., go along, go on, hang over, hold, keep at, keep going, keep on, keep up, last, pass on, proceed, progress, prosecute, pursue, push, run on, stand, stand to), ısrar etmek (be urgent about smth., claim, crowd, hang on, hold out, insist, stand on, stand out for, stand upon, stick to it, support, urge). (various references)

   

Ukranian 

  

наполягати (beat upon, instance, press, push), залишатися (be, bide, keep, leave, lie, remain, sit, stay, stop behind, stop on). (various references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

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Ancestral Language Translations: Persist

LanguagePeriodTranslations
Latin500 BCE-Modern

eduro, insistere, obdurabis, obdurare, obduretur, obduro, perseverabat, perseverabis, perseverabit, perseverabo, perseverans, perseverant, perseverante, perseverantes, perseverantia, perseverare, perseverarent, perseveraret, perseverat, perseverate, perseveraverit, perseveraveritis, perseveraverunt, perseveravi, perseveravit, perseverent, perseveretis, persistere, teneo. (various references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Derivations & Misspellings: Persist

Derivations

Words beginning with "persist": persisted, persistence, persistences, persistencies, persistency, persistent, persistently, persister, persisters, persisting, persists. (additional references)

Words containing "persist": nonpersistent. (additional references)


Misspellings

"Persist" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Parsis, pensis, perdiz, Perfitt, Perissa, Perissat, persalt, Pershti, persids, Persius, persiut, pertsist, perviest, Pteraspis. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

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Rhyming with "Persist"

# of Phoneme MatchesPronunciationWord(s) rhyming with "persist" (pronounced persi"st)
4-s i" s tassist, cist, consist, cyst, desist, insist, subsist.
3-i" s tcoexist, delist, dismissed, enlist, exist, fist, gist, grist, hissed, kissed, kist, list, missed, mist, pissed, preexist, reminisced, resist, schist, twist, wist, wrist.

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

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Anagrams: Persist

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

Direct Anagrams: esprits, priests, spriest, sprites, stirpes, stripes.

Words within the letters "e-i-p-r-s-s-t"

-1 letter: esprit, pisser, pistes, prests, priest, prises, resist, ripest, sister, speirs, spiers, spires, spirts, spites, sprite, sprits, stipes, stirps, streps, stripe, strips, tripes.

-2 letters: peris, pests, piers, piste, press, prest, pries, prise, priss, rests, ripes, rises, rites, septs, sipes, sires, sites, speir, spier, spies, spire, spirt, spite, spits, sprit, steps, sties, stipe, stirp.

 Words containing the letters "e-i-p-r-s-s-t"
 

+1 letter: crispest, hipsters, imprests, pastries, persists, piasters, piastres, presifts, prosiest, prosties, pursiest, raspiest, reposits, respites, resplits, ripostes, spinster, spiriest, spitters, spritzes, stripers, tipsters, traipses, triposes.

 

+2 letters: antipress, aspirates, crispiest, disputers, epistlers, imposters, parasites, patissier, persisted, persister, pertussis, piecrusts, pilasters, pinasters, plaisters, poetisers, practises, precisest, preexists, prestiges, priestess, printless, prissiest, pristanes, prothesis, psaltries, quipsters, rescripts, satrapies, scripters, sparkiest, sparriest, spheriest, spinsters, spitfires, splinters, splitters, sportiest, sprinters, spritzers, spruciest, stipplers, storeship, stripiest, strippers, superhits, topsiders, tricepses.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.

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Alternative Orthography: Persist


Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)

50 65 72 73 69 73 74

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)

American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)

=

Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)

Braille (1829, in France) (references)

Morse Code (1836) (references)

.--.    .    .-.    ...    ..    ...    -

Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)

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Bibliographic Items: "persist"


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Amazon.com BOOKS: Search for: "persist"

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Public Service or Web Sites Triggered by: Persist