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 →

2) Happening again and again, so often it seems never to stop: perpetual complaints. tree →

3) (of a calendar or plant) Working or flowering year after year without needing changing. tree →

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 →
• A perpetual motion machine cannot be built. tree →
• The baby's perpetual crying kept us awake. tree →
• The lighthouse is a perpetual guard of the coast. tree →
• She lived in perpetual fear of spiders. tree →
• The waterfall makes a perpetual roar. tree →
• The pattern 1, 2, 1, 2 is perpetual — it never ends. tree →
• THE WEASELS and the Mice waged a perpetual war with each other, in which much blood was shed. tree →

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.
• Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.
• It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings, that ye shall eat neither fat nor blood.
• But the fields of the open land about their cities may not be sold; for that is their perpetual possession.
• Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding?

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «perpetual» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.