Word of the Day

: June 6, 2014

perdure

play
verb per-DUR

What It Means

: to continue to exist : last

perdure in Context

The artist's influence perdures in the themes and stylistic choices of his students.

"Wells brings the reader into the drama of multi-generational families, of friendships that perdure ... of relationships that grow as hardships and challenges color life." - Fran Salone-Pelletier, The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, North Carolina), August 1, 2012


Did You Know?

"Perdure" may be an unfamiliar word for many of our readers, but those who suspect they see hints of its ancestry in the more familiar synonym "endure" are correct. "Perdure" was borrowed into Middle English from Anglo-French and traces back to the Latin verb "perdurare," meaning "to continue." "Perdurare," in turn, was formed by combining the intensifying prefix "per-" with the verb "durare," meaning "to last." "Durare" is also an ancestor of the English words "endure," "durable," "indurate," and "during," among others.



Name That Synonym

What 7-letter word is a synonym or "perdure" and also shares its prefix? The answer is …


Podcast


More Words of the Day

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!