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Definition of "perseverate" [perseverate]

  • Psychology To manifest or experience perseveration. (verb-intransitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "perseverate" in a sentence
  • "This propensity to perseverate is sometimes self-destructive, as when I am unable to stop practicing a single piece on the piano or to quit solitaire, but"
  • ""Journalists" seeking to perseverate the entire "controversy" by asking him if he thinks it will continue to be a distraction?"
  • "On the medicine, he says he was able to fully shift his attention from one situation to the next rather than perseverate on a previous conversation, and could plan what he was going to do next rather than get distracted by a phone call and forget what he was doing."