Standard Lemma guide

perpetually

adv · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /pəˈpɛtʃʊəli/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /pəˈpɛtjʊəli/
  • General-American: /pɚˈpɛt͡ʃuəli/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: P ER0 P EH1 CH UW0 AH0 L IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adv

Meaning 1

Seeming to never end; endlessly; constantly.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adverb

Meaning 2

without interruption

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • the world is constantly changing

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: constantly, always, forever, incessantly

Antonyms: none provided

3

adverb

Meaning 3

everlastingly; for all time- Stuart Chase

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • rays...streaming perpetually from the sun

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Middle English perpetuelly; equivalent to perpetual + -ly.

Across languages

Translations

21 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: perpètuament — seeming to never end
  • Catalan: perpetualment — seeming to never end
  • Czech: neustále — seeming to never end
  • Finnish: jatkuvasti — seeming to never end
  • Finnish: ikuisesti — seeming to never end
  • Finnish: alituiseen — seeming to never end
  • Finnish: lakkaamatta — seeming to never end
  • French: perpétuellement — seeming to never end
  • Galician: perpetuamente — seeming to never end
  • German: ewig — seeming to never end
  • Greek: αέναα (aénaa) — seeming to never end
  • Irish: de ghréas — seeming to never end
  • Italian: perpetuamente — seeming to never end
  • Latin: perpetuē — seeming to never end
  • Latin: iūgiter — seeming to never end
  • Plautdietsch: eewichlich — seeming to never end
  • Polish: bezustannie — seeming to never end
  • Portuguese: perpetuamente — seeming to never end
  • Romanian: perpetuu — seeming to never end
  • Spanish: perpetuamente — seeming to never end
  • Tocharian B: ṣek — seeming to never end