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perpetuate

UK/pəˈpɛt͡ʃʊeɪt/US/pɚˈpɛt͡ʃəˌweɪt/
verbC1Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #11,477 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: perpetuated, perpetuating, perpetuates

To perpetuate is to keep something going that ought to stop. Perpetuate a myth, perpetuate inequality, perpetuate the cycle.

The disapproval is built in: nobody perpetuates anything good, which is what separates it from continue or maintain. It is also usually unintentional, which is the point of accusing anybody of it.

Definitions of perpetuate

  1. 1verbperpetuateTo keep something going that ought to stop.C1

    “Films like this perpetuate the stereotype that all scientists are old men.”

perpetuate is a continuing.

Where it comes from

Latin perpetuare comes from perpetuus, continuous, from per, through, plus petere, to go towards.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *per-

  2. Proto-Indo-European

    *peth₂- — to spread out; to fly

  3. Latin

    perpetuātus — perpetuated

  4. English, today

    perpetuate

Built from

  • perpetuō · Latin — to cause to continue uninterruptedly, to proceed with continually, to make perpetual, perpetuate

(16th century) From earlier perpetuat, Latin perpetuātus (“perpetuated”), perfect passive participle of perpetuō (“to cause to continue uninterruptedly, to proceed with continually, to make perpetual, perpetuate”) (see -ate), from perpetuus + -ō, from per- + petō + -uus, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European peth₂- (“to spread out; to fly”). 2

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

perpetuate in the wild

  • PVS was established to research and perpetuate traditional Polynesian voyaging methods.

    Polynesian Voyaging Society

  • The purpose of the award is "to perpetuate the example and influence of Amos Alonzo Stagg".

    Amos Alonzo Stagg Award

  • The main duties of the mutt are to perpetuate the memory of Sridhara Ayyaval.

    Sri Sridhara Ayyaval Mutt

  • The award was instituted in 2005 by Vali Gujarati Gazal Kendra, run by Government of Gujarat, to perpetuate the memory of 17th century poet Vali Gujarati.

    Vali Gujarati Gazal Award

  • Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or hierarchy, primarily targeting the state and capitalism.

    Anarchism (disambiguation)

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.