permanent

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   continuing or enduring without marked change in status or condition or place

   permanent secretary to the president

2. 2
   adj

   not capable of being reversed or returned to the original condition

   permanent brain damage

3. 3
   adj

   Without end, eternal.

   Nothing in this world is truly permanent.

4. 4
   adj

   Lasting for an indefinitely long time.

   The countries are now locked in a permanent state of conflict.

5. 5
   noun

   A chemical hair treatment imparting or removing curliness, whose effects typically last for a period of weeks; a perm.

   She had pewter-coloured hair set in a ruthless permanent, a hard beak and large moist eyes with the sympathetic expression of wet stones.

6. 6
   noun

   a series of waves in the hair made by applying heat and chemicals

7. 7
   noun

   Given an n×n matrix a_ij,, the sum over all permutations π, of ∏ᵢ₌₁ⁿa_iπ(i).

8. 8
   noun

   A card whose effects persist beyond the turn on which it is played.

Etymology

From Middle English permanent, permanente, from Middle French permanent, from Latin permanēns, from permaneō (“to stay through”). First attested in the 15th century.