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English speakers borrowed pervade in the mid-17th century from Latin pervadere, meaning "to go through." Pervadere, in turn, was formed by combining the prefix per-, meaning "through," with the verb vadere, meaning "to go." Synonyms of pervade include permeate, impregnate, and saturate. Pervade stresses a spreading diffusion throughout every part of a whole ("art and music pervade every aspect of their lives"). Permeate implies diffusion specifically throughout a material thing ("the smell of freshly baked bread permeated the house"). Impregnate suggests a forceful influence or effect on something throughout ("impregnate the cotton with alcohol"). Saturate is used when nothing more may be taken up or absorbed ("the cloth is saturated with water").
Examples of pervade in a Sentence
Jeanna Bryner, Scientific American, 20 May 2025
Fixing the flaws that pervade the current market is an opportunity that the 119th Congress should not let slip away.
—Wayne Winegarden, Forbes.com, 29 Apr. 2025
Implying that some can follow rules while others have no agency to do the same is nothing but the soft bigotry of low expectations and an abdication of a collective responsibility that can easily pervade the rest of the city.
—David Garten, New York Daily News, 28 Apr. 2025
It was directed by Jared Hess, best known for the eccentric indie film Napoleon Dynamite, whose sensibility pervades this production, financed by Iceland’s video game developer Mojang and its executives Torfi Frans Ólafsson and Vu Bui.
—Armond White, National Review, 16 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for pervade
Cite this Entry
“Pervade.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pervade. Accessed 25 May. 2025.
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