Basic Details
Word: Persevere
Part of Speech: Verb
Meaning: To keep on trying to do something difficult, even when progress is slow or you keep failing.
Synonyms: persist, endure, keep at
Antonyms: give up, quit
Word origin: From Latin perseverare, to continue steadily, built on severus, strict or serious.
How to Spell Persevere
Syllables: per - se - vere
Tricky part: Many students slip an extra r in after per and write perservere. There is no r before the s, and the word ends in vere, not veer or vear.
Watch out for: perservere, perseveer, persevear, persivere
Memory tip: Put per in front of severe and you have it: per + severe = persevere. You persevere through severe times.
Usage Examples
Example 1: If you persevere with your sitar practice, the hard passages will start to feel easy.
Example 2: The rescue dogs had to persevere for hours in the rubble before they found the boy.
Example 3: Few people persevere long enough to finish a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle.
Fun Fact
The NASA rover that landed on Mars in February 2021 is named Perseverance, after the noun formed from this verb.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
Coach Rao told the swimmers to perservere through the cold mornings because the state trials were only six weeks away.
a) trials
b) swimmers
c) perservere
d) mornings
Show answer
c) perservere. An r has crept in after per; the verb is simply per joined to severe.
Word Connection
Choose the antonym of the word persevere as used in the sentence:
Mira decided to persevere with her violin lessons even after failing her first grade exam.
a) endure
b) continue
c) persist
d) quit
Show answer
d) quit. Persist, endure and continue all mean carrying on, so they cannot be opposites; quit means stopping.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the letters in the sentence to form a meaningful word:
Most inventors have to eevrpseer through many failed trials before something finally works.
a) preserve
b) perceive
c) reserve
d) persevere
Show answer
d) persevere. The jumble holds nine letters with four e's; preserve and reserve fall short, and perceive needs a c and an i.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. A student who perseveres with a hard maths problem ____.
a) copies the answer from a friend
b) skips it and moves to the next
c) waits for the teacher to solve it
d) keeps working until it is solved
Show answer
d) keeps working until it is solved
2. The quality shown by someone who perseveres is called ____.
a) carelessness
b) impatience
c) hesitation
d) perseverance
Show answer
d) perseverance
