Meaning & use
perpetuating
Last updated
“perpetuating” is a form of “perpetuate”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meanings
verbtransitive
Keeping something, especially a harmful idea or situation, going so that it does not end or fade.
Grammar: Always takes an object: perpetuating a stereotype.
Patterns
- perpetuating something
- perpetuating something through something
Repeating that rumor is just perpetuating a lie.
The old funding rules are perpetuating inequality between the two schools.
Some advertisements risk perpetuating narrow ideas about who can be an engineer.
verbtransitive
Making something last for a long time or be remembered, for example in a name or a memorial.
Grammar: Takes an object, often something valued: perpetuating a tradition.
Patterns
- perpetuating something for someone
The family is perpetuating her memory by funding a scholarship in her name.
The festival is perpetuating a craft that nearly disappeared.
He has spent decades perpetuating the village's folk songs.
Word forms
| base form | perpetuate |
|---|---|
| third person singular | perpetuates |
| past tense | perpetuated |
| past participle | perpetuated |
| -ing form | perpetuating |
Common combinations
- perpetuating a myth
- Teachers worry that the film is perpetuating a myth about how memory works.
- perpetuating the cycle
- Cutting youth services may be perpetuating the cycle of poverty.
- perpetuating stereotypes
- The show was criticized for perpetuating stereotypes about older workers.
- perpetuating inequality
- Critics say the policy is perpetuating inequality in housing.
- perpetuating a tradition
- The bakery is perpetuating a tradition that goes back four generations.
Synonyms and how they differ
- prolonging
- Prolonging stresses making something last longer in time, while perpetuating suggests keeping it going more or less indefinitely.
- preserving
- Preserving sounds protective and positive, whereas perpetuating often implies keeping something bad alive.
- sustaining
- Sustaining focuses on supplying what keeps a thing going and is usually neutral or positive.
- entrenching
- Entrenching means making something harder to change, and is stronger than just continuing it.
Opposites
Word family
- perpetuate verb
- to keep something going
- perpetuation noun
- the act of keeping something going
- perpetual adjective
- never ending or constantly repeated
- perpetuity noun
- the state of lasting forever
Commonly confused: perpetuating or perpetrating?
perpetuating vs perpetrating
Perpetrating means committing a crime or harmful act, not keeping something going.
Practice
The company's hiring habits are ___ the idea that only certain people can succeed in leadership.
Choose one answer.
Perpetuating means keeping an idea going over time. Perpetrating is used for committing a crime, which is a tempting but wrong choice.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “perpetuating”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.