Antonyms for persistent
pərˈsɪs tənt, -ˈzɪs-per·sis·tent

English Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:3.2 / 5 votes

1. persistent

   The headstrong person is not to be stopped in his own course of action, while the obstinate and stubborn is not to be driven to another's way. The headstrong act; the obstinate and stubborn may simply refuse to stir. The most amiable person may be obstinate on some one point; the stubborn person is for the most part habitually so; we speak of obstinate determination, stubborn resistance. Stubborn is the term most frequently applied to the lower animals and inanimate things. Refractory implies more activity of resistance; the stubborn horse balks; the refractory animal plunges, rears, and kicks; metals that resist ordinary processes of reduction are termed refractory. One is obdurate who adheres to his purpose in spite of appeals that would move any tender-hearted or right-minded person. Contumacious refers to a proud and insolent defiance of authority, as of the summons of a court. Pertinacious demand is contrasted with obstinate refusal. The unyielding conduct which we approve we call decided, firm, inflexible, resolute; that which we condemn we are apt to term headstrong, obstinate, stubborn. Compare PERVERSE.

   Antonyms:
   amenable, complaisant, compliant, docile, dutiful, gentle, irresolute, obedient, pliable, pliant, submissive, teachable, tractable, undecided, wavering, yielding

   Synonyms:
   contumacious, decided, determined, dogged, firm, fixed, headstrong, heady, immovable, indomitable, inflexible, intractable, mulish, obdurate, obstinate, opinionated, pertinacious, refractory, resolute, resolved, stubborn, unconquerable, unflinching, unyielding

Matched Categories

1. • Biology

Princeton's WordNetRate these antonyms:5.0 / 1 vote

1. persistent, relentless, unrelentingadjective

   never-ceasing

   "the relentless beat of the drums"

   Antonyms:
   caducous, sporadic, deciduous, forgettable, docile, shed

   Synonyms:
   unappeasable, inexorable, lasting, unrelenting, tenacious, relentless, dour, haunting, stern, unyielding, grim, dogged, unforgiving, brutal, pertinacious

2. haunting, persistentadjective

   continually recurring to the mind

   "haunting memories"; "the cathedral organ and the distant voices have a haunting beauty"- Claudia Cassidy

   Antonyms:
   sporadic, caducous, shed, deciduous, forgettable, docile

   Synonyms:
   lasting, unrelenting, tenacious, relentless, dour, haunting, unyielding, dogged, pertinacious

3. persistent, lastingadjective

   retained; not shed

   "persistent leaves remain attached past maturity"; "the persistent gills of fishes"

   Antonyms:
   forgettable, deciduous, shed, caducous, sporadic, docile

   Synonyms:
   permanent, lasting, durable, long-lived, unrelenting, tenacious, long-lasting, relentless, dour, haunting, unyielding, dogged, pertinacious

4. dogged, dour, persistent, pertinacious, tenacious, unyieldingadjective

   stubbornly unyielding

   "dogged persistence"; "dour determination"; "the most vocal and pertinacious of all the critics"; "a mind not gifted to discover truth but tenacious to hold it"- T.S.Eliot; "men tenacious of opinion"

   Antonyms:
   sporadic, docile, deciduous, shed, forgettable, caducous

   Synonyms:
   saturnine, relentless, sullen, grim, long, sour, morose, haunting, retentive, dark, unyielding, moody, tenacious, recollective, dour, coherent, lasting, pertinacious, dogged, glowering, forbidding, unrelenting, glum

Synonyms, Antonyms & Associated WordsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. persistentadjective

   Synonyms:
   contumacious, persevering, insistent, pertinacious, tenacious, importunate, constant

How to use persistent in a sentence?

1. Jeff Flake:

   They still have time to pass that bill, there's still clearly a persistent, urgent need to do that.

2. Jay Travis:

   We love our neighborhoods, but unfortunately this has been a persistent problem in terms of excessive force being used by the police and the murder of black people with impunity by the police, so we're out of here for love for our city, we're out of here pushing for change ... and we're out here because we value the lives of black people that live throughout the city.

3. Franklin Delano Roosevelt:

   The country needs and, unless I mistake its temper, the country demands bold, persistent experimentation. It is common sense to take a method and try it if it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.

4. Abhishek Kumar:

   A persistent rise in U.S. oil output, together with lingering demand-side concerns emerging from the U.S.-China trade dispute, is limiting price gains.

5. Kathleen Ethier:

   At the same time, the rate of violence and victimization they're experiencing hasn't gone down. Bullying hasn't decreased. The proportion of youth who have ever been physically forced to have sex has not decreased, we're seeing increases in experiences of persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness and suicide ideation and behaviors, and so that remains a great concern.

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