perpetually

US /pərˈpɛtʃuəli/ UK /pəˈpetʃuəli/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adv
in a way that never ends or seems to recur constantly

The old clock was perpetually a few minutes slow.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adv · in a way that never ends or... constantly continually eternally endlessly ceaselessly incessantly forever always

Opposites

temporarily occasionally intermittently never

Word family

Related forms perpetual perpetuate perpetuity

Etymology

From perpetual (from Latin perpetuus, 'continuous') plus the adverbial suffix -ly; ultimately from per- ('through') + petere ('to seek, go toward').

perpetuus Latin petere Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# perpetually

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adv
**IPA (US):** /pərˈpɛtʃuəli/
**IPA (UK):** /pəˈpetʃuəli/

## Meanings
1. in a way that never ends or seems to recur constantly

## Examples
- The old clock was perpetually a few minutes slow.

## Synonyms
- constantly
- continually
- eternally
- endlessly
- ceaselessly
- incessantly
- forever
- always

## Antonyms
- temporarily
- occasionally
- intermittently
- never

## Related Forms
- perpetual
- perpetuate
- perpetuity

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: perpetuus
- Root: petere

## Etymology
From perpetual (from Latin perpetuus, 'continuous') plus the adverbial suffix -ly; ultimately from per- ('through') + petere ('to seek, go toward').

## AI Etymology
Perpetually is from perpetual (from Latin perpetuus, 'continuous') plus the adverbial suffix -ly; ultimately from per- ('through') + petere ('to seek, go toward'). Important recorded forms include perpetuus (Latin) and petere (Latin). Morphologically, the word preserves a built structure whose named elements carry the historical sense into English. The modern sense remains close to that composition, with the parts narrowing into a single lexical item. In current use it covers in a way that never ends or seems to recur constantly. The wider family includes related words such as perpetual, perpetuate, and perpetuity.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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