perennial
adjective · noun
Simple meaning
Lasting or remaining active throughout the year, for multiple years, or all the time.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
perehneeuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
pɚˈɛniəl
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Lasting or remaining active throughout the year, for multiple years, or all the time.
botany
Of a plant: active throughout the year, or having a life cycle of more than two growing seasons.
figurative
Continuing without cessation or intermission for several years, or for an undetermined or infinite period; never-ending or never failing; perpetual, unceasing.
figurative
Appearing or recurring again and again; recurrent.
noun
botany
A plant lasting for three seasons or more
botany
A plant that is active throughout the year, or has a life cycle of more than two growing seasons.
by extension
A person or thing (such as a problem) that appears or returns regularly.
by extension
A thing that lasts forever.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Lasting or remaining active throughout the year, for multiple years, or all the time.
Used this way, perennial is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use perennial
- “The common buttercup is a popular perennial plant.”adjective
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Perennial climber of central and southern Europe having purple or pink or white flowers.
European perennial grass widely cultivated for pasture and hay and as a lawn grass.
A variety of aster.
Coarse perennial ragweed with creeping roots of dry barren lands of southwestern United States and Mexico.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.