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persistence

n.
US //pɝˈsɪstəns// UK //pəsˈɪstəns// per·sis·tence
  1. 1 determination (n.)
    B2 Upper Intermediate

    the quality of continuing to try to do something even when it is difficult or people are against you.

    the quality of continuing steadily in an opinion or course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition.

    Example

    Her persistence finally paid off when the company offered her the job after three interviews.

    Example

    The investigator's persistence in following every lead, no matter how minor, eventually resulted in a breakthrough that solved the decade-old cold case.
  2. 2 lasting existence (n.)
    B2 Upper Intermediate

    the fact of something continuing to exist or happen for a long time.

    the continued existence or occurrence of something, especially beyond the expected duration.

    Example

    The persistence of the heavy rain caused flooding in the lower parts of the city.

    Example

    Economists are concerned about the persistence of high inflation despite the central bank's aggressive interest rate hikes over the last quarter.
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  1. 3 data storage (n.)
    C1 Advanced Technical Computing

    the way data stays in a computer system even after the program is turned off.

    the property of data that survives the termination of the process that created it.

    Example

    Without data persistence, all your progress in the game would be lost when you close the app.

    Example

    The architecture ensures data persistence by automatically mirroring all transactions to a secondary database located in a different geographic region.

    Usage

    Uncountable in this technical context.
  2. 4 iterative operations (n.)
    C2 Proficiency Technical Math

    the number of times you can do a math operation to a number before it stops changing.

    the number of times an operation can be iteratively applied to an integer before it reaches a fixed point.

    Example

    The additive persistence of 39 is 2 because 3 plus 9 is 12, and 1 plus 2 is 3.

    Example

    The student explored the multiplicative persistence of various large integers as part of her senior thesis on recreational number theory.

Origin

From Middle French persistance.

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