Definition of PERENNIAL
- ️Mon Feb 03 2025
1
: present at all seasons of the year
Did you know?
When you hear perennial, you probably think of peonies 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 to evergreen, 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 word perennis combined per- ("throughout") with a form of annus ("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 scholar Pliny 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
Choose the Right Synonym for perennial
continual showers the whole weekend
continuous usually implies an uninterrupted flow or spatial extension.
football's oldest continuous rivalry
constant implies uniform or persistent occurrence or recurrence.
incessant implies ceaseless or uninterrupted activity.
annoyed by the incessant quarreling
perpetual suggests unfailing repetition or lasting duration.
a land of perpetual snowfall
perennial implies enduring existence often through constant renewal.
a perennial source of controversy
Examples of perennial in a Sentence
The problem … is inherent and perennial 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 of perennial 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,
in Signposts in a Strange Land, 1991
… scientists are warning that a perennial 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 is perennial. Flooding is a perennial 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.
White was the most dominant defensive player for most of the 1990s and turned the Packers into a perennial contender.
—Josh Dubow, Chicago Tribune, 31 Jan. 2025
The product joins perennial favorites like Mandarin Orange Chicken, Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups, and Unexpected Cheddar in the Hall of Fame, which was created in 2023.
—Kait Hanson, Southern Living, 30 Jan. 2025
The president’s foray into California’s perennial water wars underscores the growing influence of this bloc of farmers, lawmakers, and advocates with access to the administration.
—Bloomberg, The Mercury News, 30 Jan. 2025
The Lakers would have been perennial championship contenders.
—Bill Plaschke, Los Angeles Times, 26 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for perennial 
Word History
Dictionary Entries Near perennial
Cite this Entry
“Perennial.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/perennial. Accessed 7 Feb. 2025.
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Last Updated: 3 Feb 2025 - Updated example sentences
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