MEANING
1. To relate to or be relevant to a particular subject, person, or situation.
2. To belong to someone or something as a right, duty, attribute, or part.
Use it for
limiting findings to the population they concern; identifying which documents relate to an issue; distinguishing relevant evidence from nearby but unrelated material; stating the topic or setting to which a claim appliesDistinguishes relevance to a topic from belonging as a right, duty, or attribute; helps state the scope of evidence. Writing functions: Significance / Scope, Qualification / Uncertainty.
Words that belong together
- pertain to a question
- findings pertaining to
- documents pertaining to
On the page
These findings pertain to short-term recall, not to every form of memory.
The archive contains several letters pertaining to the disputed boundary.
The constitution distinguishes powers that pertain to the office from privileges claimed by its holder.
The chapter examines the obligations pertaining to ownership rather than the owner’s personal intentions.
Word forms
- Base
- pertain
- Past tense
- pertained
- Past participle
- pertained
- Present participle
- pertaining
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- pertain
- Present continuous
- am/is/are pertaining
- Present perfect
- have/has pertained
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been pertaining
- Past
- pertained
- Past continuous
- was/were pertaining
- Past perfect
- had pertained
- Past perfect continuous
- had been pertaining
- Future
- will pertain
- Future continuous
- will be pertaining
- Future perfect
- will have pertained
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been pertaining
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
Usage notes
Intransitive lexical verb: pertain; pertains; pertained; pertained; pertaining. Future: will pertain. Normally followed by to; it can stand alone when the reference is clear, as in which rule pertains? No direct object. Register: formal. Commonness: moderately common in formal writing (qualitative editorial estimate, informed by dictionaries/corpus).
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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