pervade

views updated

per·vade / pərˈvād/ • v. [tr.] (esp. of a smell) spread through and be perceived in every part of: a smell of stale cabbage pervaded the air. ∎  (of an influence, feeling, or quality) be present and apparent throughout: the sense of crisis that pervaded Europe in the 1930s.DERIVATIVES: per·va·sion / pərˈvāzhən/ n.ORIGIN: mid 17th cent. (also in the sense ‘traverse’): from Latin pervadere, from per- ‘throughout’ + vadere ‘go.’

More From encyclopedia.com