2 February 2017
perennial
[puh-ren-ee-uh l]
adjective
1. lasting for an indefinitely long time; enduring:
her perennial beauty.
2. (of plants) having a life cycle lasting more than two years.
3. lasting or continuing throughout the entire year, as a stream.
4. perpetual; everlasting; continuing; recurrent.
noun
5. a perennial plant:
Daffodils and tulips are perennials.
6. something that is continuing or recurrent.
Origin of perennial
Latin
1635-1645; Latin perenni (s) lasting the whole year through ( per- per- + -enn-, combining form of annus year + -is adj. suffix) + -al1
Related forms
perenniality, noun
perennially, adverb
Can be confused
annual, perennial.
Synonyms
1. perdurable; constant, incessant, continual. 4. imperishable, undying, eternal, immortal.
Dictionary.com
Examples from the Web for perennial
Contemporary Examples
And the omission or derision of dads in the parent (aka “mommy”) blogosphere is a perennial pet peeve.
Move Over, Ladies: Dove Does Dads
Andy Hinds
June 16, 2014
Mothers who kill their children are a tragic and yet perennial news sensation.
Did Julie Schenecker Kill Her Kids?
Amy Green
February 7, 2011
Does your school or alma mater support its basketball teams, even if they are not perennial March Madness powerhouses?
Top 25 Colleges With Diehard Fans
The Daily Beast
March 20, 2011
Scottie the dog, a perennial favorite, and the racecar were added in the 1950s.
Fidel Castro Hates Monopoly & 12 More Reasons to Love It
Caroline Linton
February 5, 2013
And of course there are the perennial stories about how the new models are really fragile and easy to break, or are easy to hack.
Apple’s New iPhones Met by Strong Demand
William O’Connor
September 22, 2013
Historical Examples
It is herbaceous and perennial, and proves hardy in this climate if planted on a well-drained soil of a vegetable character.
Hardy Perennials and Old Fashioned Flowers
John Wood
The perennial will be the one to suffer, mostly from lack of moisture.
Making a Garden of Perennials
W. C. Egan
Hippopotami exist in the Lokalueje, so it may be inferred to be perennial, as the inhabitants asserted.
Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa
David Livingstone
Tea-plants are perennial, and are set about four feet apart on hillsides.
East of Suez
Frederic Courtland Penfield
All through the summer the winter Jasmine is covered by a perennial pink Bellbine, that dies in autumn and comes up each spring.
The Children’s Book of Gardening
Mrs. Alfred Sidgwick
Anagram
nip leaner
leaper inn
learn pine
pearl nine
Today’s quote
To know yourself as the Being underneath the thinker, the stillness underneath the mental noise, the love and joy underneath the pain, is freedom, salvation, enlightenment.
– Eckhart Tolle
On this day
2 February 1943 – the German 6th Army surrenders to Soviet forces in Stalingrad.
2 February 1964 – Hasbro launches G.I. Joe (‘Government Issue Joe), an Armed Forces toy.
2 February 1971 – Idi Amin declares himself President of Uganda and launches a genocidal program that massacres between 80,000 and 300,000 people.
2 February 1990 – South African President, F.W. De Klerk orders the release of Nelson Mandela from jail. Mandela had served 27 years in prison for his anti-apartheid work with the African National Congress. De Klerk also lifted the 30 year ban on the ANC.