persist
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
to continue doing something in a determined way, even if people try to stop you or it is very hard.
to continue steadfastly or obstinately in an opinion or course of action, especially in the face of opposition.
Simple“If you persist in making so much noise, I will have to ask you to leave the library.”
In context“Despite several rejections from major publishers, the author persisted in submitting her manuscript until she finally secured a contract.”
UsageUsually takes the preposition 'in' followed by a noun or gerund.
PitfallShe persisted to ask the same question. She persisted in asking the same question.The verb persist is followed by the preposition 'in' and a gerund (-ing form), not an infinitive.
- 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
to continue to exist or happen, especially for longer than is usual or expected.
to remain in existence; to endure or stay present over a period of time.
Simple“The cold weather is likely to persist for the rest of the week.”
In context“Economists warn that inflationary pressures may persist well into the next fiscal year despite the central bank's recent interventions.”
UsageIntransitive; does not take a direct object.
- 03 C1 Advanced
to save information permanently so it is still there after a computer or program is turned off.
to store data in a non-volatile way so that it remains available across different sessions or after a system restart.
Simple“The application needs to persist the user's settings to the database.”
In context“The framework automatically persists state changes to the local storage to ensure no progress is lost during a crash.”
UsageCan be used transitively in technical contexts to mean 'to cause to persist'.
Teacher's tipThis is a specialized sense used by software developers; in general English, 'save' is the standard term.
Usage difference persist
“Authorities would prioritise saving lives and persist with rescue efforts, Kumagai added.”
“With much uncertainty within forecast models, the risk of this dry period persisting is not out of the question.”
From Middle French persister (Modern French persister), from Latin persistere, from per- + sistere (“to stand”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.