Confusables Entry 277 / 1011 60-second read

Perpetrate vs. Perpetuate

Committing a crime versus making something continue indefinitely.

The comparisoni

✗ Wrong

This bug will perpetrate bad data through the database.

✓ Correct

This bug will perpetuate bad data through the database.

More examplesii

01

We shouldn't perpetuate these bad coding habits.

We shouldn't perpetuate these bad coding habits.

02

They intended to perpetuate a heist.

They intended to perpetrate a heist.

The ruleiii

PERPETRATE = to commit a harmful or illegal act.

They share the same prefix and have similar lengths, but one is about an event while the other is about duration.

Memory aidiv

Remember it like this

Perpetr-A-te is for an A-ct (usually bad). Perpet-U-ate is for U-nending.

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