pervasive

English

WOTD – 29 March 2008

Etymology

From Latin pervāsus, from pervādō (“spread through, pervade”), from per (“through”) + vādō (“go, walk”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /pəˈveɪ.sɪv/
• (US) IPA^(key): /pɚˈveɪ.sɪv/

• Audio (US)

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• Audio (AU)

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Adjective

pervasive (comparative more pervasive, superlative most pervasive)

1. Manifested throughout; pervading, permeating, penetrating or affecting everything.

   The medication had a pervasive effect on the patient's health.

   • 2023 November 15, Tessa Wong, “Xi Jinping arrives in US as his Chinese Dream sputters”, in BBC‎^[1]:

     Mr Xi is also struggling with issues within his carefully-constructed power structure. The unexplained disappearances of key members of his leadership team and military top brass could be seen as either signs of pervasive corruption or political purges.

Synonyms

• (manifested throughout): penetrating, permeating, pervading

Derived terms

• pervasive arousal withdrawal syndrome
• pervasive developmental disorder
• pervasive game
• pervasive refusal syndrome

 

Related terms

English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *weh₂dʰ-‎ (0 c, 12 e)

Translations

manifested throughout

• Bulgarian: всеобхватен (bg) (vseobhvaten)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Danish: gennemtrængende
• Dutch: doordringend (nl)
• Finnish: kokonaisvaltainen (fi)
• French: pénétrant (fr), envahissant (fr)
• Georgian: გავრცელებული (gavrcelebuli), გაჟღენთილი (gažɣentili), შემვსები (šemvsebi), ამვსები (amvsebi), შემღწევი (šemɣc̣evi)
• German: durchdringend (de)
• Hungarian: átható (hu)
• Maori: rangiwhāwhā
• Norwegian: gjennomtrengende
• Persian: فراگیر (fa) (farâgir)
• Polish: wszechobecny (pl) m, wszechogarniający m
• Portuguese: pervasivo (pt)
• Russian: распространяющийся (ru) (rasprostranjajuščijsja), проникающий (ru) (pronikajuščij), пропитывающий (ru) (propityvajuščij), заполняющий (ru) (zapolnjajuščij)
• Spanish: penetrante (es), determinante (es), dominante (es), ubicuo (es) m, ubicua (es) f
• Swedish: genomträngande (sv), genomgående (sv)
• Turkish: yaygın (tr)
• Vietnamese: lan toả, rộng khắp

German

Adjective

pervasive

1. inflection of pervasiv:
   1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
   2. strong nominative/accusative plural
   3. weak nominative all-gender singular
   4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

Italian

Adjective

pervasive

1. feminine plural of pervasivo