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perennial

adjective

pe·ren·ni·alpə-ˈre-nē-əl How to pronounce perennial (audio)

Synonyms ofperennial next

:present at all seasons of the year

:persisting for several years usually with newherbaceous growth from aperennating part

perennial asters

:persistent,enduring

perennial favorites

:continuing without interruption:constant,perpetual

theperennial quest for certainty

aperennial student

:regularly repeated or renewed:recurrent

death is aperennial literary theme

perennialnoun

perennially

pə-ˈre-nē-ə-lē How to pronounce perennial (audio)

adverb

Did you know?

When you hearperennial, you probably think ofpeonies rather than pines. The word today typically describes (or, as a noun, refers to) plants that die back seasonally but produce new growth in the spring. But this wasn’t the word’s initial meaning: originally,perennial was equivalent toevergreen, used, as that word is, for plants that remain with us all year. We took this "throughout the year" sense straight from the Romans, whose Latin wordperennis combinedper- ("throughout") with a form ofannus ("year"). The poet Ovid, writing around the beginning of the first millennium, used the Latin word to refer to a "perennial spring" (a water source), and the scholarPliny used it of birds that don't migrate.Perennial retains these same uses today, for streams and occasionally for birds, but the word has long since branched out to encompass several other senses, including "constant" (as in "a perennial bestseller") and "recurring" (as in "the perennial joy of reading Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day").

Synonyms

See All Synonyms & Antonyms in Thesaurus

Choose the Right Synonym forperennial

continual,continuous,constant,incessant,perpetual,perennial mean characterized by continued occurrence or recurrence.

continual often implies a close prolonged succession or recurrence.

continual showers the whole weekend

continuous usually implies an uninterrupted flow or spatial extension.

football's oldestcontinuous rivalry

constant implies uniform or persistent occurrence or recurrence.

lived inconstant pain

incessant implies ceaseless or uninterrupted activity.

annoyed by theincessant quarreling

perpetual suggests unfailing repetition or lasting duration.

a land ofperpetual snowfall

perennial implies enduring existence often through constant renewal.

aperennial source of controversy

Examples ofperennial in a Sentence

The problem … is inherent andperennial in any democracy, but it has been more severe in ours during the past quarter-century because of the near universal denigration of government, politics and politicians.—

Michael Kinsley,Time,29 Oct. 2001

The issue between science and art is ofperennial interest to me, since I started off in science in college, in medicine, was headed for psychiatry, and ended up writing novels …—

Walker Percy,"The State Of The Novel,"1977,inSignposts in a Strange Land, 1991

… scientists are warning that aperennial viral threat, the upcoming flu season, could be far more dangerous than usual—more evidence that these tiny foes are responsible for a large share of human suffering.—

Claudia Wallis,Time,3 Nov. 1986

This variety of oregano isperennial. Flooding is aperennial problem for people living by the river.

Recent Examples on the Web

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage.Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.Send us feedback.

Fertilize Flower Beds Annual andperennialflower beds will benefit from a top-dressing of 1 to 2 inches of compost.—

Rita Pelczar,Better Homes & Gardens, 3 May 2025Withperennialwinner Game of Thrones ineligible that year, oddsmakers had mostly settled on Netflix’s The Crown to take home the Drama Series award for its debut season.—

Joe Reid,Vulture, 3 May 2025Enough results had been collected to ensure the Championship’sperennialunderachievers began the day sitting most comfortably but tension was still a travel companion on the 40-mile trip to the East Midlands.—

Nick Miller,New York Times, 3 May 2025Myperennialrecommendations on this front are Cimarron, Real de Valle, Olmeca Altos, or Lunazul.—

Jason O'Bryan,Robb Report, 3 May 2025See All Example Sentences forperennial