perseverance

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

• noun Steady persistence in adhering to a course of action, a belief, or a purpose; steadfastness.
• noun Christianity The Calvinistic doctrine that those who have been chosen by God will continue in a state of grace to the end and will finally be saved.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun The act or habit of persevering; persistence in anything undertaken; continued pursuit or prosecution of any business or enterprise begun; steady persistency in any state or course of action: applied alike to good and evil.
• noun In theology, continuance in a state of grace, leading finally to a state of glory: sometimes called final perseverance. See perseverance of the saints, below.
• noun See perceiverance.

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

• noun The act of persevering; persistence in anything undertaken; continued pursuit or prosecution of any business, or enterprise begun.
• noun obsolete Discrimination.
• noun (Theol.) Continuance in a state of grace until it is succeeded by a state of glory; sometimes called final perseverance, and the perseverance of the saints. See Calvinism.

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

• noun Continuing in a course of action without regard to discouragement, opposition or previous failure.
• noun Persistent determination to adhere to a plan of direction; insistence.

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

• noun persistent determination
• noun the act of persisting or persevering; continuing or repeating behavior