Pervasive means spreading throughout something so completely that it's present everywhere, affecting or influencing almost everything. When something is pervasive, you can't escape it: it's woven into every part of a situation or place.

Think about how the smell of popcorn becomes pervasive in a movie theater, reaching every corner and hallway. Or consider how smartphones have become pervasive in modern life: you see them everywhere, on buses, in restaurants, at parks, fundamentally changing how people communicate and spend their time.

The word often describes things that spread gradually but thoroughly. A pervasive attitude of kindness in a classroom means almost everyone treats each other well, creating an atmosphere that shapes how students behave. A pervasive problem, like bullying in a school, affects many students across different grades and situations, making it harder to solve because it's not isolated to one place or group.

Pervasive can describe both positive and negative things. A pervasive sense of excitement might fill your house before a big family trip. A pervasive fog might blanket an entire valley. When something is truly pervasive, it has seeped into so many places that addressing it, changing it, or escaping it takes broad effort.