See Also: Permanent(medicine)
permanent(dictionary)
permanent wave(dictionary)
Permanent Resident(law)
Permanent assets(finance)
Permanent financing(finance)
Permanent teeth(health)
PERMANENT-TRESPASSES(law)
permanent 1, adjective(dictionary)
permanent 2, noun(dictionary)

permanent (iou)



permanent adjective & noun. LME.
[Old & mod. French, or Latin permanent- pres. ppl stem of permanere remain to the end, from PER-1 + manere stay: see -ENT.]
A. adjective. Continuing or designed to continue indefinitely without change; abiding, lasting, enduring; persistent. Opp. temporary. LME.
V. Brittain Nothing was permanent; everyone and everything was always on the move. A. Eden It all seemed so permanent; the same family..established at this same site for four centuries. D. Lodge If it wasn't for the cuts, I'd have had a permanent job by now.
Special collocations: permanent blue (the colour of) artificial ultramarine. permanent hardness water hardness which is not removed by boiling. permanent magnet a magnet which retains its magnetic properties in the absence of an inducing electric field or current. permanent magnetism: which persists in the absence of an inducing field or current. permanent pasture: left unploughed for a long period and used for growing grass. permanent press (of, pertaining to, or designating) a process for producing materials which retain their crease, press, shape, etc.; (of, pertaining to, or designating) a fabric treated by this process. permanent revolution the state or condition, envisaged by L. D. Trotsky (1879-1940), of a country's continuing revolution being dependent on a continuing process of revolution in other (esp. neighbouring) countries. Permanent Secretary a senior civil servant, now usu. a permanent adviser to a minister. permanent set (the amount of) irreversible deformation of a substance after being subjected to stress. permanent tooth: replacing a milk tooth and lasting most of a mammal's life. Permanent Under-Secretary (a) a senior permanent adviser to a Secretary of State; (b) = Permanent Secretary above. permanent wave an artificial wave or curl in the hair, intended to last for several months. permanent way the finished roadbed of a railway. permanent white a paint or tint of bright white which does not discolour.
b. absol. as noun.
the permanent, that which endures or persists. M18.
A permanent person or thing. E19.
b. = permanent wave above. E20.
permanentize verb trans. make permanent M20.
permanently adverb in a permanent manner; so as to last or continue: L15.