persistive

English

Etymology

From persist +‎ -ive.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pə(ɹ)ˈsɪstɪv/

Adjective

persistive (comparative more persistive, superlative most persistive)

1. (obsolete) persistent
   • c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:

     Do you with cheekes abash'd, behold our workes,
     And thinke them shame, which are (indeed) nought else
     But the protractiue trials of great Ioue,
     To finde persistiue constancie in men?

   • 1858, Alva Curtis, A Synopsis of Lectures on Medical Science:

     It should further be observed, that this order of spasm is very persistive, sometimes continuing even after apparent death […]

2. (grammar) Indicating a situation that was the case at one time (usually past) and continues to a later time (usually time of speaking).
   • 2008, Jouni Filip Maho, “Comparative TAM morphology in Niger-Congo”, in Folke Josephson, Ingmar Söhrman, editors, Interdependence of Diachronic and Synchronic Analyses:

     The present paper looks at so-called persistive markers (denoting something like “still going on”) in the sub-Saharan Bantu languages, one of the major subgroups of the Niger-Congo language phylum.

   • 2022, Hilde Gunnink, A grammar of Fwe:

     Persistive aspect is marked with a post-initial prefix shí-. Its high tone does not surface when combined with a construction that uses melodic tone 4

Derived terms

• persistive vegetative state

References

• “persistive”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.