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# perpetual

«perpetual» in Mova's school dictionary: **Lasting forever or for a very long time, never ending** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

adjective (perpetual)

### meaning for a pupil

1) Lasting forever or for a very long time, never ending. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/perpetual/#m1)

2) Happening again and again, so often it seems never to stop: perpetual complaints. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/perpetual/#m2)

3) (of a calendar or plant) Working or flowering year after year without needing changing. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/perpetual/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In stories and talk it exaggerates something annoying: «my brother's perpetual whining». In science, a «perpetual motion machine» is a machine that would run forever without energy; it is impossible, because energy is always lost. Maths has «perpetual» patterns that go on forever. A formal or literary word. Phrases: «perpetual motion», «perpetual snow», «a perpetual state of».

### examples

- The mountain tops are covered in perpetual snow. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/perpetual/#x1)
- A perpetual motion machine cannot be built. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/perpetual/#x2)
- The baby's perpetual crying kept us awake. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/perpetual/#x3)
- The lighthouse is a perpetual guard of the coast. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/perpetual/#x4)
- She lived in perpetual fear of spiders. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/perpetual/#x5)
- The waterfall makes a perpetual roar. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/perpetual/#x6)
- The pattern 1, 2, 1, 2 is perpetual — it never ends. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/perpetual/#x7)
- THE WEASELS and the Mice waged a perpetual war with each other, in which much blood was shed. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/perpetual/#x8)

### note

Adjective; adverb: perpetually. Do not confuse with «perpendicular» (at right angles). Often used for exaggeration — «perpetual» in daily speech usually means «very often», not truly forever.

### In the corpora

- [And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at dusk, he shall burn it, a perpetual incense before the LORD throughout your generations.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/EXO.896/)
- [Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/EXO.942/)
- [It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings, that ye shall eat neither fat nor blood.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/LEV.49/)
- [But the fields of the open land about their cities may not be sold; for that is their perpetual possession.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/LEV.767/)
- [Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding?](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/JER.242/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «perpetual» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/perpetual/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.