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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
Sahar Mustafah
august 27, Literary Hub, 27 Aug. 2025
There is certainly a layer of ick that pervades this often gleeful depiction of the 1989 murder of Jose and Kitty Menendez by their sons, Lyle and Erik, and the media circus that followed.
—Joe Reid, Vulture, 23 Aug. 2025
Job insecurity pervades the industry, with 87% of workers describing their employment as unstable.
—Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 22 Aug. 2025
Since then, loss has seemed to him to pervade more and more of the world—in the form of extinctions and environmental crises, the lingering effects of the pandemic, and the devastation of the war in Gaza.
—The New Yorker, New Yorker, 13 Aug. 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 9 Sep. 2025.
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