pervasive
adjective
Did you know?
Is pervasive always negative?
Pervasive is most often used of things we don't really want spreading throughout all parts of something:
a pervasive problem
a stench that is pervasive
pervasive corruption
But pervasive can occasionally also be found in neutral and even positive contexts:
a pervasive rhythm
a pervasive sense of calm
The meaning isn't neutral when the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) uses it. Beginning in the early 1990s, the MPAA started giving the R rating to movies with "pervasive language." Most movies have language throughout, of course. The MPAA is using the phrase "pervasive language" to refer to the frequent use of a particular kind of language: profanity.
Examples of pervasive in a Sentence
Mark Slouka, Harper's, November 2004
The manic money-grab excitement of the Nineties had never been altogether free of our pervasive American guilt.
—Norman Mailer, New York Review of Books, 27 Mar. 2002
Race was never articulated as an issue at the trial, even though its presence was pervasive.
—Howard Chua-Eoan, Time, 6 Mar. 2000
the pervasive nature of the problem
television's pervasive influence on our culture
Expert Panel®, Forbes, 5 Nov. 2024
This massive and pervasive hacking by China of U.S. telecom companies is significant.
—CBS News, 3 Nov. 2024
Low-level lead poisoning remains pervasive in the U.S. and world populations despite decades of efforts to end the use of lead in infrastructure, according to a study by researchers at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health.
—Zack Budryk, The Hill, 30 Oct. 2024
Anti-intellectualism is a prevalent and pervasive force in American public life.
—Matt Motta, Scientific American, 29 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for pervasive 
Dictionary Entries Near pervasive
Cite this Entry
“Pervasive.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pervasive. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
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pervasive
adjective
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