(permanents)
Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English.
1.
Something that is permanent lasts for ever.
Heavy drinking can cause permanent damage to the brain...
The ban is intended to be permanent.
? temporary
ADJ
• permanently
His reason had been permanently affected by what he had witnessed...
? temporarily
ADV: ADV with v, ADV adj
• permanence
Anything which threatens the permanence of the treaty is a threat to peace.
N-UNCOUNT
2.
You use permanent to describe situations or states that keep occurring or which seem to exist all the time; used especially to describe problems or difficulties.
...a permanent state of tension...
They feel under permanent threat...
= constant
ADJ: usu ADJ n
• permanently
...the heavy, permanently locked gate.
ADV
3.
A permanent employee is one who is employed for an unlimited length of time.
...a permanent job.
? temporary
ADJ: ADJ n
• permanently
...permanently employed registered dockers.
ADV: ADV with v
4.
Your permanent home or your permanent address is the one at which you spend most of your time or the one that you return to after having stayed in other places.
York Cottage was as near to a permanent home as the children knew...
ADJ: ADJ n
5.
A
permanent is a treatment where a hair stylist curls your hair and treats it with a chemical so that it stays curly for several months. (
AM; in BRIT, use perm
)
N-COUNT