Adjective

(en adjective)

Obstinately refusing to give up or let go.

She has had a persistent cough for weeks.

* {{quote-news

, year=2011 , date=November 10 , author=Jeremy Wilson , title= England Under 21 5 Iceland Under 21 0: match report , work=Telegraph citation , page= , passage=The most persistent tormentor was Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who scored a hat-trick in last month’s corresponding fixture in Iceland. His ability to run at defences is instantly striking, but it is his clever use of possession that has persuaded some shrewd judges that he is an even better prospect than Theo Walcott.}}

Insistently repetitive.

There was a persistent knocking on the door.

Indefinitely continuous.

There have been persistent rumours for years.

(botany) Lasting past maturity without falling off.

Pine cones have persistent scales.

*

The Jubulaceae have a leaf whose lobule, usually transformed into a water-sac, is normally very narrowly attached to the stem and to the dorsal lobe; indeed some Frullania'' taxa reproduce vegetatively by dropping the dorsal lobes, but not the lobules, and ''Neohattoria has caducous lobules but persistent lobes.

(computing) About some data or data structures: existing after the execution of the program. Remaining in existence past the lifetime of the program that creates it.

Once written to a disk file the data becomes persistent and it will still be there tomorrow when we run the next program.

This way transient value becomes persistent .

(mathematics) Describing a fractal process that has a positive Brown function

(mathematics, stochastic processes, of a state) non-transient.

Adjective

(en-adj)

Possessing, or controlled by ambition; greatly or inordinately desirous of power, honor, office, superiority, or distinction.

* 1891 , , "The Man with the Twisted Lip,"

As I grew richer I grew more ambitious , took a house in the country, and eventually married, without anyone having a suspicion as to my real occupation.

Strongly desirous—followed by "of" or the infinitive; as, ambitious to be or to do something.

Springing from, characterized by, or indicating, ambition; showy; aspiring.

Hard to achieve.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838

, page=13 (Technology Quarterly), magazine=(The Economist) , title= Ideas coming down the track , passage=A “moving platform” scheme