Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Lasting or remaining without essential change.
  • adjective Not expected to change in status, condition, or place.
  • noun Any of several long-lasting hair styles usually achieved by chemical applications that straighten, curl, or wave the hair.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Lasting or intended to last indefinitely; fixed or enduring in character, condition, state, position, occupation, use, or the like; remaining or intended to remain unchanged or unremoved; not temporary or subject to change; abiding: as, a permanent building; permanent colors; permanent employment; permanent possession.
  • In zoology, always present in a species or group.
  • noun In the plural, a general name for light cotton cloth, sometimes glazed and generally dyed in bright colors.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Continuing in the same state, or without any change that destroys form or character; remaining unaltered or unremoved; abiding; durable; fixed; stable; lasting.
  • adjective (Chem. & Physics) hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon monoxide; -- also called incondensible gases or incoercible gases, before their liquefaction in 1877. The term is now archaic.
  • adjective the roadbed and superstructure of a finished railway; -- so called in distinction from the contractor's temporary way.
  • adjective (Chem.) barium sulphate (heavy spar), used as a white pigment or paint, in distinction from white lead, which tarnishes and darkens from the formation of the sulphide.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Without end, eternal.
  • adjective Lasting for an indefinitely long time.
  • noun A chemical hair treatment imparting or removing curliness, whose effects typically last for a period of weeks; a perm.
  • noun linear algebra, combinatorics Given an matrix , the sum over all permutations of .

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective continuing or enduring without marked change in status or condition or place
  • adjective not capable of being reversed or returned to the original condition
  • noun a series of waves in the hair made by applying heat and chemicals

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin permanēns, permanent-, present participle of permanēre, to endure : per-, throughout; see per– + manēre, to remain; see men- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Used in English since 15th century, from Middle French permanent, from Latin permanens, from permanēo ("I stay to the end").

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