English Word of the Day: PERVASIVE

Hi students! Today’s adjective of the day is pervasive. Not persuasive – that’s a word meaning something that can easily persuade or convince you, change your mind. This is pervasive, with a V in the middle. Let’s say it together – pervasive. Per-VAS-ive

Something that is pervasive has the quality that it tends to spread and fill up an area, so that it ends up having a wide influence or effect. A simple example is a strong smell, maybe you cook with strong spices like curry and you could say that the smell of curry is pervasive. This doesn’t mean it’s good or bad, just that it tends to spread and fill the whole house.

We typically use this word to describe ideas, feelings, and trends that tend to spread and not stay small. For example, racism is a pervasive problem in many countries. It’s something that affects a lot of people, and society in general.

Or you could say that social media has become pervasive, because this technology has spread throughout the world and so many people use it, and it also affects our daily lives a lot.

So the adjective pervasive simply means widespread, but as I was looking up examples, I realized that we do often tend to use it for negative things. A pervasive sense of inferiority would be a lack of confidence that impacts your whole life and your whole personality; a pervasive disease would be one that affects many systems throughout your body. And again we often talk about pervasive problems in society, like racism or poverty or depression, saying that they are pervasive means they affect a lot of people and wide areas of society.

Got it? So try to write your own sentence – what’s a pervasive problem in your company, your school, or your country? That’s all for today – thanks for joining me, and I’ll talk to you tomorrow.

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[thunthun]

Hi. I'm from Myanmar. The pervasive problem of our country's edu system is the intense academic pressure which sometimes even causes students to commit suicide. It's very competitive too which is the thing I hate.

[anpcpro]

Shayna, thank you. God bless you for your work. 👼 I'm praying to become a better learner. 🙏✝️

[hafidanhir]

I really appreciate your work thank you so much greetings from morocco

[aeghwaer]

Corona-situation is getting worse in some regions because lack of awareness and high-level pervasiveness nature of this desease. Thank you again for your nice work

[bfp-sikatunafirestationr]

Her good aura pervasively lift the mood as she enters the room.

[rorydixon]

thanks, Im going to learn 2 new words every week. Gotta start
Self learning should never stop, Im turning 45 years old this year, and more curious than ever!

[barshan]

Excellent!! I have always been waiting for that

[nitinsharma]

Carelessness is pervasive problem in India.

[khaizalknj]

COVID19 pandemic is now pervasive in many countries. Businesses and small businesses are now struggling.

[mukul]

Gastrointestinal Diseases often have pervasive effect which leads to other problems.

[taimur]

Lack of standard in education is one of the pervasive issues in our country

[able]

American fast food culture has been quite pervasive all over the world, while fast food is not good for health.

[Funworld-Fun]

The most important thing you forgot to mention is the status of the word. Is "pervasive" noun, adverb or adjective? It must be mentioned because there are a lot of words which can be used both as an verb and Noun.

[Mohammad_Yawar]

The water pollution in our area is becoming a pervasive problem day by day

[hwangdalmi]

Tennager angst is a pervasive problem between teenagers.

[humeraejaz]

As soon as I entered the house a strange smell was pervasive.

[榎木康朗]

I would say nihilism is a pervasive feeling in many developed nations these days.

[Bommanaboina]

Lack of English fluency is a pervasive problem of my career

[builder]

The pervasive problem in my country is closes minded people

[sampatpratap]

Nowadays we can say the Corona virus has a pervasive
effect through out the world.