Meaning & use
persist
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Meanings
verbintransitive
To keep doing something firmly, even though it is difficult or other people want you to stop.
Grammar: No direct object; often followed by in or with: persist in trying.
Patterns
- persist in doing something
- persist with something
She persisted in her search until she found the missing letter.
If you persist with this plan, you may regret it.
Despite repeated rejections, he persisted and finally got the job.
verbintransitive
To go on existing or happening for a long time, often longer than expected.
Grammar: No object; the subject is usually a thing: the cough persisted.
Patterns
- persist for a long time
- persist into something
The fog persisted until late afternoon.
If the pain persists, see a doctor.
Old habits can persist long after the reasons for them are gone.
Word forms
| third person singular | persists |
|---|---|
| past tense | persisted |
| past participle | persisted |
| -ing form | persisting |
Common combinations
- persist in doing
- He persists in calling her by the wrong name.
- persist with a plan
- The team persisted with its plan despite the setbacks.
- symptoms persist
- If symptoms persist, contact your doctor.
- persist for years
- The rumor persisted for years.
- stubbornly persist
- The tradition stubbornly persists in rural areas.
Synonyms and how they differ
- persevere
- Persevere is more positive and stresses admirable effort against difficulty, while persist can imply stubbornness.
- continue
- Continue is neutral and needs no sense of difficulty, whereas persist suggests resistance or delay.
- insist
- Insist means to demand or state firmly, while persist means to keep going without necessarily saying anything.
- linger
- Linger describes something slowly fading, often smells, feelings or illness, while persist suggests it holds on without weakening.
Opposites
Word family
- persistence noun
- the act of continuing firmly despite difficulty
- persistent adjective
- continuing firmly or for a long time
- persistently adverb
- in a way that keeps going
- persistency noun
- a rarer form of persistence
Commonly confused: persist or perspire? persist or resist?
persist vs perspire
Perspire means to sweat; it sounds similar but has nothing to do with continuing.
persist vs resist
Resist means to fight against something, while persist means to keep going.
Practice
The reporter ______ asking questions even after the official refused to answer.
Choose one answer.
Persist in plus an -ing form means to continue firmly. Insist takes on rather than in, and resist and perspire do not fit the meaning.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “persist”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.