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persistent
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show 189 more with this conextual meaning
  • There is a patience of the wild--dogged, tireless, persistent as life itself--that holds motionless for endless hours the spider in its web, the snake in its coils, the panther in its ambuscade; this patience belongs peculiarly to life when it hunts its living food;   (source)
    persistent = continuing despite difficulties
  • They alone were deaf to that persistent voice ... admonishing them, if they would be good and win, as I suppose, some shiny prize, to keep within certain limits which the gentleman in question thinks suitable—   (source)
    persistent = continuing despite opposition
  • As the service proceeded, the clergyman drew such pictures of the graces, the winning ways, and the rare promise of the lost lads that every soul there, thinking he recognized these pictures, felt a pang in remembering that he had persistently blinded himself to them always before, and had as persistently seen only faults and flaws in the poor boys.   (source)
    persistently = always (in a continuing manner)
  • The persistent smell of the guavas filled their noses.†   (source)
  • Louie had demonstrated that if they were persistent and resourceful, they could catch food, and both he and Phil felt inspired.†   (source)
  • In Officer Delinko's experience, kids weren't usually so persistent, or so daring.†   (source)
  • Several feet away the persistent sun made amber roads of shimmering sunlight upon the pond.†   (source)
  • But Winifred was too persistent for me, in the end.†   (source)
  • In hindsight, I believe my ability to dodge all learning opportunities did reveal a certain inner strength, a persistent refusal to be like the others.†   (source)
  • As one observer noted, "In traveling across America, the Scots-Irish have consistently blown my mind as far and away the most persistent and unchanging regional subculture in the country.†   (source)
  • Later, it's the other way around: while the rest of the world moves on, you find yourself fighting the persistent desire to talk about Cassie to anyone who will listen.†   (source)
  • The problems he'd warned of—and prioritized—over a decade earlier were persistently difficult to solve.†   (source)
  • The brutal era of sharecropping and Jim Crow was ending, but what followed was persistent unemployment and worsening poverty.†   (source)
  • But she tired easily and submitted eventually to their persistent badgering.†   (source)
  • You're very stubborn-er, persistent, that way.†   (source)
  • He was persistent.†   (source)
  • Persistent and stubborn—like it was alive.†   (source)
  • Rowdy isn't a fast reader, but he's persistent.†   (source)
  • It's really persistent.†   (source)
  • It was the war, she persistently told herself, it was the prison of camp life, the pressures of the times, their exile from home, that explained his distance.†   (source)
  • Mrs. Brocklebank is persistent regarding new information; she goes after everything as aggressively as she attacks her dandelions.†   (source)
  • And yet Galileo was persistent.†   (source)
  • And now the rains had really come, so heavy and persistent that even the village rain-maker no longer claimed to be able to intervene.†   (source)
  • But the rebel boys were persistent, and finally one of them got the gun and shot two boys on our side.†   (source)
  • Why would he be so persistent?†   (source)
  • Months crept by and Miss Moss became more persistent.†   (source)
  • The rumors Lindsey and Samuel heard in the first weeks of the school year wove in and out of the rows of student lockers like the most persistent of snakes.†   (source)
  • "Go ahead," said Levana, a persistent warmth behind her gaze.†   (source)
  • And ridiculous as it is, I can't shake the persistent, needling feeling that I've forgotten something, or missed something, or lost something forever.†   (source)
  • And the saddest thing was that she knew what set off her explosions, but each time she had managed to light a match, it had persistently been blown out.†   (source)
  • Mr. McLellan was a persistent reporter.†   (source)
  • It was an annoying and extremely persistent habit.†   (source)
  • And Greasy Sae and I were laughing because he was so ridiculous and persistent and kept pointing out women around the Hob who he said had paid far more than a rabbit to enjoy his lips.†   (source)
  • But my efforts to put him off had only made him more determined that I should share in the profits; the more I tried to brush off his offer, the more persistent he grew; with typical generosity, he attributed my reticence to "modesty" although my real fear was that a partnership would shed a certain official light on unofficial goings-on in the shop—goings-on that would shock poor Hobie to the soles of his John Lobb shoes, if he knew.†   (source)
  • He does all these things to persistently annoy the subject.†   (source)
  • But except for the quiet snuffling of the children, a man's persistent hacking cough, and Rachel's labored breathing, no one made a sound.†   (source)
  • Eragon was one of those few-not through any particular gift, it seemed to him, but because of persistent vigilance and sharp reflexes.†   (source)
  • But he was persistent, and more clever than his father.†   (source)
  • Instead I felt a persistent, icy dread at the thought of my mother's illness.†   (source)
  • Her fingers are dry and rough and her eyes seek mine, persistent, though I feel strange meeting her gaze.†   (source)
  • Though he will never forget that night, it no longer lurks persistently in his mind, stalking him in the same way.†   (source)
  • I don't know why I'm so worried about a small-time reporter, but he'd been persistent—too persistent.†   (source)
  • The ammonia smell of bone-tar wafted up from the grate, faint but persistent.†   (source)
  • On the third evening, I tried to observe this exodus but six of them turned me back from the edge and gently but persistently brought me back to my hut.†   (source)
  • He was persistent and at one point came to Bubeh's apartment and knocked on the door and stood in the hallway saying, "Come out, Ruth.†   (source)
  • In the summer of 1967, when I was ten years old, my father caved in to my persistent pleas and took me to get my own dog.†   (source)
  • "wasting away"; others were said to "have a lung" or "suffer from lung disease" or were merely identified as having a persistent cough or periods of low energy.†   (source)
  • Of course, it was my persistent attacker, the ever-present Andy, who continued his threats to get me, no matter what.†   (source)
  • I was ridiculously persistent, and I kept getting passed on and on until I was connected to a guy named Jon Snoddy.†   (source)
  • But my neck pain was intense and persistent.†   (source)
  • The stun bunny left her with a persistent nosebleed and an eternal throbbing headache, and every time the van hit a chuckhole, her head bounced on the Corrugated steel floor.†   (source)
  • But I still remember that all week, whether I was at the pictures, in the theatre or eating ices, even during amusements that called for great concentration, I was not free for a single moment of the itch of fear in the pit of my stomach, an unconscious, persistent fear of what would happen when the day of the operation finally came.†   (source)
  • He'd phoned her with persistent regularity on the drive down, but she wasn't answering her cell.†   (source)
  • INVESTIGATION CONCERNING CARIETTA WHITE AND THE SO-CALLED "TK" PHENOMENA CONTINUES AMID PERSISTENT RUMORS THAT AN AUTOPSY ON THE WHITE GIRL HAS UNCOVERED CERTAIN UNUSUAL FORMATIONS IN THE CEREBRUM AND CEREBELLUM OF THE BRAIN.†   (source)
  • It was this big talk, not the persistent southwesterly breeze, that had prompted New York editor Charles Anderson Dana to nickname Chicago "the Windy City."†   (source)
  • Mohammed Mohammed would play defense—he was tiny but as persistent as a gnat—and she could move the Dikori brothers around as needed.†   (source)
  • And I thought again, persistently, of my brother.†   (source)
  • If Bryant hadn't been so persistent, I wouldn't have given the idea any more thought.†   (source)
  • A marked and persistent identity disturbance is almost invariably present.†   (source)
  • On the way to the cemetery, under the persistent drizzle, Arcadio saw that a radiant Wednesday was breaking out on the horizon.†   (source)
  • Two days after Blomkvist's book came out, a persistent rumour began circulating that Wennerström had left Sweden.†   (source)
  • "It's what we call one of the more ...persistent skip tracers," he continued.†   (source)
  • By morning my eyes were burning and bloodshot, my nostrils were clogged with black soot, and I'd developed a dry, persistent hack that would stay with me until the end of the expedition.†   (source)
  • Then, as his planet killed him, it occurred to Kynes that his father and all the other scientists were wrong, that the most persistent principles of the universe were accident and error.†   (source)
  • With time their love became more persistent and invulnerable, but it already had the depth and certainty that characterized it later on.†   (source)
  • She says I was real stubborn when it came to something I really wanted; that I would dig my heels in and he very persistent about whatever it was.†   (source)
  • Why I didn't just sleep with someone as persistent as Rudy Elmenhurst is a mystery I'm exploring here by picking it apart the way we learned to do to each other's poems and stories in the English class where I met Rudolf Brodermann Elmenhurst, the third.†   (source)
  • Out of some persistent sense of large-scale ruin, we kept inventing hope.†   (source)
  • Mari continues speaking, quietly but persistently, to the woman.†   (source)
  • The kettle started to whistle and she didn't respond right away, and the thin persistent wailing filled the room.†   (source)
  • And that was the moment, I am now sure, that has remained so persistently lodged in my memory — that moment as I paused in the dimness of the corridor, the tray in my hands, an ever-growing conviction mounting within me that just a few yards away, on the other side of that door, Miss Kenton was at that moment crying.†   (source)
  • A persistent nag involves constant requests for the coveted product and may include the phrase "I'm gonna ask just one more time."†   (source)
  • The women were courageous, persistent, enthusiastic, indefatigable, and their protest against passes set a standard for antigovernment protest that was never equaled.†   (source)
  • SEETHEDOGBOWBOWGOESTHEDOGDOYOUWANTTOPL AYDOYOUWANTTOPLAYWiTHJANESEETHEDOGRUNR Once there was an old man who loved things, for the slightest contact with people produced in him a faint but persistent nausea.†   (source)
  • But then I realized there was something familiar about what he was playing; it was like it was tugging at some part of me, faint but persistent, a melody I thought was mine alone.†   (source)
  • Unfortunately, maternal health is persistently diminished as a "women's issue.†   (source)
  • This was the second time he'd given me his card—he certainly was persistent.†   (source)
  • He was conscious of a nagging, persistent pain in his left hand.†   (source)
  • But he was persistent and spent a lot of his time at the Thomasville factory.†   (source)
  • The bug sprawled untidily on a mound of squashed letters and Tock, his alarm ringing persistently, was buried under a pile of words.†   (source)
  • and the large house of her childhood with its sweet-smelling gardens was sold and somehow they had money, how they bought a small white bungalow on the cliffs above the water outside Valparaaso, and Litvinoff was able to give up his job at the school for a while and write most afternoons and evenings, she says nothing of Litvinoff's persistent cough which would often send him out onto the terrace in the middle of the night where he'd stand gazing out at the black water, nothing of his long silences, or the way his hands sometimes shook, or how she was watching him grow old before her eyes, as if time were passing more quickly for him than for everything around him.†   (source)
  • The knock gets more persistent.†   (source)
  • Like the grass, I search the earth and the sky with a thin but persistent thirst.†   (source)
  • Voices roared through his head; one voice persistently asked him, "Where is Jesus?†   (source)
  • Jackie revels in the Mona Lisa's presence with a feeling of profound success, for it was her persistent dream to bring the world's most famous painting to the National Gallery of Art, in Washington.†   (source)
  • It never ended—someone's somebody—all persistently filed in to bruise their heads upon the rigid walls of due process.†   (source)
  • Gus seemed unaware that one of the more persistent topics of dispute on the Texas range was whether his voice was louder than Shanghai Pierce's.†   (source)
  • But I find that such persistent reminders are not healthy.†   (source)
  • It was persistent, with incremental decreases year after year.†   (source)
  • She had summoned him to follow her as if wishing to test him again and again, to test his love for her; she had summoned him persistently, and here he was, tired and gray, with stiffened fingers that would never again be capable of holding a scalpel.†   (source)
  • In her seduction of me, she was both persistent and patient.†   (source)
  • He had that annoying, persistent look in his eyes.†   (source)
  • Sometimes the road wound a little upward for a quarter of a mile or so; but the general tendency was persistently down.†   (source)
  • The voice was so calm and so determined that at last Max opened his eyes and risked a peek at this most persistent of phantoms.†   (source)
  • You are a persistent little man.†   (source)
  • He also hoped to begin to solve one of Zanmi Lasante's most persistent problems.†   (source)
  • Persistently.†   (source)
  • Filling page after page, he enumerated the same troubles and woes he had been reporting persistently to Congress for so long, and that he would report still again to John Hancock that same day.†   (source)
  • The more distressing the memory, the more persistent its presence.†   (source)
  • She was kicking against his grip, but he was persistent, holding her tighter, saying, "Baby, stop.†   (source)
  • But she seemed persistent as we entered the living room and motioned for me to join in the game.†   (source)
  • But Snow Flower was persistent in her haunting.†   (source)
  • No matter how they scrubbed their hands, the residue of Red Hot Mama had a way of sticking around, as pesty and persistent as a chapter one at a high school dance.†   (source)
  • By the time they reached the dispensary, Koop's breathing had become a low persistent moaning, and Dart's terror was rising up in his chest like a thick bubble.†   (source)
  • And persistent.†   (source)
  • Kant is always superbly methodical, persistent, regular and meticulous as he scales that great snowy mountain of thought concerning what is in the mind and what is outside the mind.†   (source)
  • Their reports were unreliable, but they were all her secretary had to answer his queen's persistent questions.†   (source)
  • The most persistent one was Paul Larkin.†   (source)
  • Christ, you're persistent.†   (source)
  • Why don't you find one of your own girls," said the persistent intruder.†   (source)
  • He thought of his father standing at the phone last night, haunted by the persistent ringing, and he thought, I should have sold the chocolates, after all.†   (source)
  • They wasted no time, no matter how persistent the customer.†   (source)
  • Tappan was a pompous, persistent snake, who no doubt sensed the lull in the press coverage of the Amistad case, as well.†   (source)
  • The driver closed the door and started up again, but the persistent runner was gaining.†   (source)
  • Even a persistent man would have given up after twenty.†   (source)
  • They were the same—the mule and old Grandma, she sitting in the corner of the room in the wintertime by the potbelly stove, or the summertime on an apple crate under the elm tree; she was as blind as the gray mule and just as persistent.†   (source)
  • But she was persistent.†   (source)
  • It has the only flesh that can be kept down by a persistently vomiting patient and is administered to pregnant women for morning sickness.†   (source)
  • I suppose I should have realized that few members of the oppressor race can understand the deep groans and passionate yearnings of the oppressed race, and still fewer have the vision to see that injustice must be rooted out by strong, persistent and determined action.†   (source)
  • That time in Sunny's bathroom, trying to rub out a persistent cloudy stain in the vanity, I somehow cracked the mirror, and my fingers began bleeding from the edges of the spidery glass.†   (source)
  • He possessed, however, that persistent inquisitiveness which for journalists and lawyers is an end in itself.†   (source)
  • Mrs. Edwards was persistently if not profoundly religious.†   (source)
  • The crux of that problem involves an ongoing partition of the island between British and Irish jurisdictions, and an equally persistent partition of the affections in Northern Ireland between the British and Irish heritages; but surely every dweller in the country must hope that the governments involved in its governance can devise institutions which will allow that partition to become a bit more like the net on a tennis court, a demarcation allowing for agile give-and-take, fo†   (source)
  • The birds had ceased singing and there was perfect silence except for one small, persistent sound, which seemed to come from a good distance away.†   (source)
  • Some grizzlies live to be thirty, maybe even more, but even if that cub lived to grow up, Its chances of survival this long were slim, with persistent hunters and bear-hating ranchmen.†   (source)
  • A persistent buzzing filled my ears.†   (source)
  • Drawing away slightly from the mirror, she caught a narcissistic gleam of her familiar beauty, dwelling persistently beneath the white mask, and this gave her a long moment of comfort.†   (source)
  • "You are as persistent as your grandson," I said, "but being older you should know better.†   (source)
  • Human beings are remarkably ingenious, and often very persistent.†   (source)
  • A rumor, persistent and enlightening, said that she and her husband made some of the best moonshine in the lowcountry during the bootleggers' heyday.†   (source)
  • Only in one corner was there an urgent, persistent whispering, where Terentii and Goshka huddled in panic with Koska Nekliva-lenykh, a quarrelsome, heavyhanded bully from Ermolai.†   (source)
  • DEEP IN THE NIGHT they experienced the sensation, in their sleep, of being prodded at, as if by some persistent insect.†   (source)
  • And who among us can say that we would have made the same progress were it not for his persistent bravery and his faith in American democracy?†   (source)
  • This made a grave and persistent noise in the still air, that seemed meditative like the chirping of a solitary little bird.†   (source)
  • His dry, simple but persistent language and the quiet intensity of his anger captivated his audience, as he insisted that their newspapers were not giving them the facts and that, despite warnings that he stay away until his role in the filibuster was forgotten, he wanted it to be remembered.†   (source)
  • Progress toward these noble goals is persistently threatened by the conflict now engulfing the world.†   (source)
  • What's the most persistent tune you ever wrote?†   (source)
  • They talk about their laborers with a persistent irritation sounding in their voices: individual natives they might like, but as a genus, they loathe them.†   (source)
  • As the service proceeded, the clergyman drew such pictures of the graces, the winning ways, and the rare promise of the lost lads that every soul there, thinking he recognized these pictures, felt a pang in remembering that he had ... persistently seen only faults and flaws in the poor boys.   (source)
    persistently = in a continuing manner -- especially despite difficulties or opposition
  • The drums were still beating, persistent and unchanging.†   (source)
  • The hymn about brothers who sat in darkness and in fear seemed to answer a vague and persistent question that haunted his young soul—the question of the twins crying in the bush and the question of Ikemefuna who was killed.†   (source)
  • She clung to him persistently to make a point.†   (source)
  • Over a period of years her father persistently abused her mother.†   (source)
  • And he had to be after an answer to something, or he wouldn't have been bugging Charlie so persistently.†   (source)
  • State and federal courts have persistently insulated prosecutors from accountability for egregious misconduct that results in innocent people being sent to death row.†   (source)
  • That night, lying in the cabin beside Maxine, he is woken by the sound of the phone ringing persistently in the main house.†   (source)
  • As the ball rolled into Front Street with Sagamore in close pursuit, the baby-rattle tinkle of the odd bell of the diaper truck dinged persistently, even at the moment of the truck's sudden confluence with Sagamore's unlucky head.†   (source)
  • If the gaps in his education frustrated Oromis, the elf did not betray it through word or action, but labored persistently to mend them.†   (source)
  • The weather was persistently wretched.†   (source)
  • I knew this was her attempt to get me to open up, and though it wasn't something I'd ever been comfortable doing, I knew that Jane would keep prodding me—gently and persistently—until I did.†   (source)
  • Pleasantly but persistently, Yoga Janet had been inviting me to join her class, and when I wrenched my back, she iced it while I lay prone on my bunk.†   (source)
  • All of the natural night sounds of the city were blocked by the thick tinted windows and the hum of the air conditioner, but they trailed persistently behind the polished back of the vehicle as it turned and headed down the long gray boulevard.†   (source)
  • Aren't you always having to reprove me because I so persistently like what I like, without reference to the opinions of the world?†   (source)
  • Gently but persistently selling her on this alliance, Mark said, "Doctor, we both have set ourselves against those forces of ignorance and fear and self-interest that want to keep the world in darkness."†   (source)
  • "It's hardly a secret that Alexander Zalachenko persistently abused Lisbeth's mother," Giannini said.†   (source)
  • Hot, tired, angry, the dust of the way prickling on his face and neck, he was persistently conscious of a letter in the pocket of his striped shirt, over his heavily beating heart, warm and moist like the shirt itself, with the sweat of his body.†   (source)
  • He drove back along the road, across the creek, its banks glittering now with the narrow bottles, the size of harmonicas, in which paregoric was persistently sold under the name of Mother's Helper.†   (source)
  • The wary instinct of the killer was warning him, vaguely, persistently...And Powell could only marvel at the intricate survival mechanism of the human mind.†   (source)
  • The noise just got louder and more persistent.†   (source)
  • But I get the feeling that some of these guys are pretty persistent.†   (source)
  • Theresa squinted and rolled over, trying to get a few more minutes' rest, but Kevin was persistent.†   (source)
  • The werecat refused to say more, despite Eragon's persistent questions.†   (source)
  • But all during these years I had a vague but persistent desire to return to New Orleans.†   (source)
  • "Once, we bothered students with persistent annoyances," he said.†   (source)
  • But the confusion remained, persistent as ever.†   (source)
  • Cole swatted at the persistent mosquitoes and studied the bay.†   (source)
  • As you are aware, you yourself are the focus of Miss Chase's more persistent fixations.†   (source)
  • A particularly persistent beggar began calling himself "Titanic Beggar."†   (source)
  • The persistent drizzle and cold had become a daily part of his life here on the island.†   (source)
  • I didn't expect to hear from them, but within days they called, and they were persistent.†   (source)
  • The persistent sound made him open his eyes and stare at the underside of a thatched roof.†   (source)
  • He likes its oldness, its persistent grace.†   (source)
  • Sophia sighed, knowing how persistent Marcia could be.†   (source)
  • Behind them, row after row of spikes shot toward the ceiling with a persistent thunk, thunk, thunk.†   (source)
  • Her persistent memory of him increased her rage.†   (source)
  • Gone was the roar of waves and the persistent drumming of the storm, the crackling of the fire.†   (source)
  • I'll give you this much, though: You're persistent.†   (source)
  • But Gabby was nothing if not persistent, and she started making small changes anyway.†   (source)
  • As crazy as he was, he was persistent and diligent and his instincts were usually right.†   (source)
  • I'm prepared to be annoyingly persistent.†   (source)
  • "He seems awfully persistent," Esther observed.†   (source)
  • Fever and chills assaulted him in turn, and of late he had developed a persistent racking cough.†   (source)
  • She didn't bombard the airwaves with a persistent call for prevention and testing.†   (source)
  • "Sharon was very, very persistent," said Nancy.†   (source)
  • You are intelligent and persistent, and you have the potential to be a great Rider.†   (source)
  • The Mede ambassador was persistent in his attentions.†   (source)
  • The question of marriage, about which Deets felt so free to chuckle, was a persistent one.†   (source)
  • She had a persistent cough and frequent attacks of fever.†   (source)
  • You are persistent, Ser Axell, I grant you that.†   (source)
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