perennial
American Heritage Dictionary:
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per·en·ni·al
(pə-rĕn'ē-əl) 
adj.
adj.
- Lasting or active through the year or through many years.
- Lasting an indefinitely long time; enduring: perennial happiness.
- Appearing again and again; recurrent. See synonyms at continual.
- Botany. Living three or more years.
- Botany. A perennial plant.
- Something that recurs or seems to recur on a yearly or continual basis: "that hardy perennial, the budget deficit" (David S. Broder).
[Latin perennis (per-, throughout; see per- + annus, year) + -AL1.]
perennially per·en'ni·al·ly adv.Related Videos:
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perennial
Fowler's Modern English Usage:
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perennial
with reference to plants, means 'lasting several years' by contrast with annual which means 'lasting for one growing season'.
| peremptory, percentage, perceive | |
| perfect, perfect infinitive, perfectible |
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia:
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perennial
Any plant that persists for several years, usually with new herbaceous growth from a part that survives from season to season. Trees and shrubs are perennial, as are some herbaceous flowers and vegetative ground covers. Perennials have only a limited flowering period, but, with maintenance throughout the growing season, they provide a leafy presence and shape to the garden landscape. Popular flowering perennials include bellflowers, chrysanthemums, columbines, larkspurs, hollyhocks, phlox, pinks, poppies, and primroses. annual, biennial.
For more information on perennial, visit Britannica.com.
Roget's Thesaurus:
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perennial
adjective
- Existing or remaining in the same state for an indefinitely long time: abiding, continuing, durable, enduring, lasting, long-lasting, long-lived, long-standing, old, perdurable, permanent, persistent. See continue/stop/pause.
Antonyms by Answers.com:
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perennial
adj
Definition: enduring, perpetual
Antonyms: changing, intermittent, interrupted
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A plant or shrub whose life cycle is greater than 2 years.
Columbia Encyclopedia:
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perennial
perennial, any plant that under natural conditions lives for several to many growing seasons, as contrasted to an annual or a biennial. Botanically, the term perennial applies to both woody and herbaceous plants (see stem) and thus includes numerous members of the kingdom. In horticulture, however, the term is usually restricted to hardy herbaceous perennials, particularly border plants such as alyssum, chrysanthemum, iris, peony, phlox, pink, and sedum, all of which characteristically die down to the ground each year and survive the winter on food stored in specialized underground stems (corms, rhizomes, and tubers in horticulture; bulbous plants are not considered perennials). Perennials form seeds each year after reaching maturity, but since plants grown from seeds do not normally bloom until the second season (unless forced), most garden perennials are propagated by dividing the rootstocks (see propagation of plants). In fact, division every few years-as well as judicious pruning-is usually necessary to prevent the plant's becoming straggly and weak. Perennials, including the woody perennials, may have a rest period of some duration during their life cycle. In the plant different parts rest at different times and resume growth independently, e.g., the buds of deciduous plants, which form in late summer and remain dormant until spring. Even in tropical areas where plants appear to retain their leaves the year round, some plants lose all their leaves for a brief period and others grow new and drop old leaves on a continuing basis, as do most conifers.
Bibliography
See R. W. Cumming and R. E. Lee, Contemporary Perennials (1960); J. U. Crockett, Perennials (1972); A. M. Armitage, Herbaceous Perennial Plants (1989); R. R. Clausen and N. H. Ekstrom, Perennials for American Gardens (1989); P. J. Harper, Designing with Perennials (991).
Taylor's Dictionary for Gardeners:
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perennial
A plant that lives for a number of years, generally flowering each year. Gardeners often use the term “perennial” to mean herbaceous perennial, but woody plants such as shrubs and trees are also perennial. See also short-lived perennial; herbaceous perennial; woody perennial.
Word Tutor:
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perennial
IN BRIEF: Continuing though the year or through many years.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is perennial as the grass.
— from Desiderata
LearnThatWord.com is a free vocabulary and spelling program where you only pay for results!
Saunders Veterinary Dictionary:
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perennial
A plant with a life cycle of more than one year.
- p. broomweed — gutierrezia microcephala.
- p. pea — lathyrus latifolius.
- p. ryegrass — lolium perenne.
- p. snakeweed — gutierrhezia microcephala.
- p. urochloa grass — urochloa mozambicensis.
Random House Word Menu:
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categories related to 'perennial'
- Botany and Plant Parts - perennial: plant that lives more than two years, esp. herbaceous plant that produces flowers from the same root structure several years in a row
- Plants and Plant Parts - perennial: plant that lives two years or more; herbaceous plant that lives beyond its flowering stage
- Fixed Times - perennial: occurring year after year
See crossword solutions for the clue Translations:
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Perennial
Dansk (Danish)
adj. - flerårig, varig, uopslidelig
n. - flerårig plante
Nederlands (Dutch)
heel jaar/vele jaren durend, eeuwigdurend, telkens terugkerend, onafgebroken, nooit opdrogend, overblijvend(e plant)
Français (French)
adj. - perpétuel, (Bot) vivace
n. - plante vivace
Deutsch (German)
adj. - immerwährend, ausdauernd
n. - ausdauernde Pflanze
Ελληνική (Greek)
adj. - αιώνιος, μόνιμος, πολυετής
n. - πολυετές φυτό
Italiano (Italian)
perenne, perpetuo, eterno, pianta perenne
Português (Portuguese)
adj. - perene, permanente, eterno
n. - planta perene (f) (Bot.)
Русский (Russian)
многолетний, многолетнее растение, круглый год
Español (Spanish)
adj. - perenne, eterno, perpetuo
n. - planta perenne
Svenska (Swedish)
adj. - ständig, ständigt återkommande, flerårig, perenn, som varar hela året
n. - flerårig växt, eternell, ngt ständigt återkommande
中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
四季不断的, 继续多年的, 多年生植物
中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 四季不斷的, 繼續多年的
n. - 多年生植物
한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 사철을 통한, 장기간 계속하는, 다년생인
n. - 다년생 식물
日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 四季を通じての, 永久の, 多年生の, 年中絶えない, 永遠の
n. - 多年生植物, 続くもの
العربيه (Arabic)
(صفه) دائم, معمر (الاسم) مستمر خلال فصول العام أو السنه
עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - נמשך כל השנה, נצחי, תמידי, איתן (נחל), נמשך לאורך מספר שנים
n. - צמח רב-שנתי
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American Heritage Dictionary
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 1994-2012 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more
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Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary Copyright © 1995 byHoughton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture & Construction
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Columbia Encyclopedia
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/.
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Taylor's Dictionary for Gardeners
Taylor's Dictionary for Gardeners, by Frances Tenenbaum. Copyright © 1997 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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