perennial

Syllables: per·en·ni·alUK/pəˈɹɛn.ɪ.əl//pəˈɹɛn.j(ə)l/

perennial adjective: lasting or remaining active throughout the year, for multiple years, or all the time.

Adjective

perennial (not comparable)

Lasting or remaining active throughout the year, for multiple years, or all the time.
- a perennial stream
- [W]hat is most admirable is the vast enclosure, and variety of ground, in yᵉ large garden, containing vineyards, cornefields, meadows, groves (whereof one is of perennial greens), and walkes of vast lengthes, so accurately kept and cultivated, that nothing can be more agreeable.1644 March 7 (Gregorian calendar), John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for 27 February 1644]”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, […], 2nd edition, volume...
Synonyms:

multiyear, yearslong, perennal
(figuratively) Continuing without cessation or intermission for several years, or for an undetermined or infinite period; never-ending or never failing; perpetual, unceasing.
- His artwork has a perennial beauty.
- There, on perennial Adamant deſign'd, / The various Fortunes of your Race you'll find: […]1717, Leonard Welsted, “Book XV. [The Deification of Julius Cæsar.]”, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 545
Synonyms:

continual, enduring, everlasting, permanent, timeless, ageful, agelong, amaranthine, celestial, endless
(figuratively) Appearing or recurring again and again; recurrent.
- a perennial candidate in elections
- Change is a perennial theme in politics.
Synonyms:

repetitious, habitual, monotonous, recurrent, recurring, repeating, repetitional, repetitionary, repetitive
1. (figuratively, rare) Appearing again each year; annual.
Of a plant: active throughout the year, or having a life cycle of more than two growing seasons.

Noun

perennial (plural perennials)

A plant that is active throughout the year, or has a life cycle of more than two growing seasons.
- One would have supposed from the appearance of the country at the end of the first season after the eruption that practically all plants except the trees and bushes had been destroyed, and that revegetation must be due to new seedlings started on the ash. Such, however, is not the case. Excavation...1917 January, Robert F[iske] Griggs, “The Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes”, in National Geographic, volume XXXI, number 1, Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society […], →ISSN, →OCLC
(broadly) A thing that lasts forever.
(broadly) A person or thing (such as a problem) that appears or returns regularly.
- Some of the stars on our list are perennials who fill huge venues year after year after year, but there's also a returning superstar on our list of the hottest summer tours of 2019.2019 June 21, Sterling Whitaker, “Hottest Country Tours to See in Summer 2019”, in Taste of Country, archived from the original on 31 May 2021

perennial meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

perennial in Hindi

lasting or remaining active throughout the year, or all the time: चिरस्थायी cirasthāyī, बारहमासी bārahmāsī
continuing without cessation or intermission for several years, or for an undetermined or infinite period — see also perpetual, unceasing: चिरस्थायी cirasthāyī
of a plant: active throughout the year, or having a life cycle of more than two growing seasons: बारहमासी bārahmāsī
plant active throughout the year, or has a life cycle of more than two growing seasons: बारहमासी bārahmāsī

perennial in Tamil

நிலைத்திருக்கிற, நிலைத்துவரு, முடிவுக்கு வராத, வற்றாத, நிலையான, பல்லாண்டு பலன் தரும்

perennial in Urdu

دوامی, سدابہار

More languagesFewer languages

perennial in Bengali: চিরস্থায়ী
perennial in Malayalam: ചിരന്തനമായ, നിലനിൽക്കുന്ന, ചിര, ചിരം
perennial in Kannada: ಬಹುವಾರ್ಷಿಕ ಸಸ್ಯ, ದೀರ್ಘಜೀವಿ, ನಿಲ್ಲದ, ಬಾಳುವ
perennial in Punjabi: ਬਾਰਮਾਸੀ
perennial in Gujarati: બારમાસી
perennial in Odia: ବହୁବର୍ଷଜୀବୀ
perennial in Nepali: बारहमासी
perennial in Arabic: مُتَكَرِّر mutakarrir, أَبَدِيّ ʔabadiyy, سَرْمَدِيّ sarmadiyy, مُعَمِّر muʕammir
perennial in Persian: جاوید jâvid, چندساله čand-sâle

Examples of perennial in a sentence

And there is ſuch a thing as Subterraneous Heat, […] [a]s is manifeſt from the ſmoking of perennial Fountains in froſty VVeather, and VVater dravvn out of Pumps and open VVells.1713, W[illiam] Derham, “[A Survey of the Terraqueous Globe.] The Distribution of the Earth and Waters.”, in Physico-Theology: Or, A...
Good humour may be defined a habit of being pleaſed, a conſtant and perennial ſoftneſs of manner, eaſineſs of approach, and ſuavity of diſpoſition; […]1750 December 4 (Gregorian calendar), Samuel Johnson, “No. 72. Friday, November 24. 1750.”, in The Rambler, volume III, Edinburgh: [[…]...
But perennial youth is in her artificial flowers, and her list of lovers is full.1864 May – 1865 November, Charles Dickens, “A Marriage Contract”, in Our Mutual Friend. […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […]...
Earth lay before her, / And throbbed unconscious fealty and truth; / Morning and night men hastened to adore her, / And from her eyes Peace drew perennial youth.1882, John Boyle O’Reilly, “The Three Queens”, in In Bohemia, Boston, Mass.: The Pilot Publishing Co. […], published 1886, →OCLC, stanza 2...

All 40 example sentences with perennial

Synonyms of perennial

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of perennial

Forms of perennial

plural	perennials

Plural of perennial: perennials

Origin of perennial

The adjective is borrowed from Latin perennis (“lasting through the whole year or for several years, perennial; continual, everlasting, perpetual”) + English -al (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives). Perennis is derived from per- (“completive or intensifying prefix with the sense of doing something all the way through or entirely”) + annus (“year; season, time”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂et- (“to go”)). By surface analysis, per- + -ennial. The noun is derived from the adjective. Cognates * Middle French pérenne (modern French pérenne (“lasting through the whole year, perennial”)) * Italian perenne (“lasting for a long time”) * Spanish perenne (“eternal; permanent; a perennial plant”)

Words formed from perennial

Questions about perennial

What does perennial mean?: Perennial means lasting or remaining active throughout the year, for multiple years, or all the time.
What is perennial in Hindi?: Perennial in Hindi is चिरस्थायी (cirasthāyī), बारहमासी (bārahmāsī). See Perennial meaning in Hindi.
How do you use perennial in a sentence?: And there is ſuch a thing as Subterraneous Heat, […] [a]s is manifeſt from the ſmoking of perennial Fountains in froſty VVeather, and VVater dravvn out of Pumps and open VVells.
What part of speech is perennial?: Perennial can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce perennial?: Perennial is pronounced /pəˈɹɛn.ɪ.əl/ (UK).

Words near perennial in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: perennial (page history and authors); perennial (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); perennial (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); perennial (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); perennial (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); perennial (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); perennial (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); perennial (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); perennial (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); perennial (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); perennial (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-perennial.ogg.

Cite this entry: “perennial.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/perennial. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.