permanent
adjectivenounverbcommon in dialogue
- Canada//ˈpɝ.mə.nənt//
- Australia//ˈpɜː.mə.nənt//
Without end, eternal.
adjective
- 1
Without end, eternal.
Nothing in this world is truly permanent.
Things that had been permanent and unquestionable were suddenly thrown into doubt.
- 2
Lasting for an indefinitely long time.
The countries are now locked in a permanent state of conflict.
Etymology
From Middle English permanent, permanente, from Middle French permanent, from Latin permanēns, from permaneō (“to stay through”). First attested in the 15th century.
noun
- 1
A chemical hair treatment imparting or removing curliness, whose effects typically last for a period of weeks; a perm.
She had pewter-coloured hair set in a ruthless permanent, a hard beak and large moist eyes with the sympathetic expression of wet stones.
- 2
Given an n×n matrix a_ij,, the sum over all permutations π, of ∏ᵢ₌₁ⁿa_iπ(i).
- 3
A card whose effects persist beyond the turn on which it is played.
verb
- 1
datedTo perm (the hair).
Forms
- plural
- permanents
- comparative
- more permanent
- superlative
- most permanent
- past tense
- permanented
- past participle
- permanented
- present participle
- permanenting
- third person singular
- permanents