per se
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per se
- /pəˈseɪ/ UK
- /pɚˈseɪ/ US
- /pɚˈsiː/ US
- /pəˈsæɪ/ Australia
Rhymes with -eɪ, (General American) -iː
Where it comes from
Borrowed from Latin per sē (“by itself”), from per (“by, through”) and sē (“itself, himself, herself, themselves”).
adverb
-
Without determination by or involvement of extraneous factors; by its very nature.
Near-synonyms: by definition, by nature, essentially, in essence, ipso facto, intrinsically; see also Thesaurus:intrinsically
Similar: by itself, in itself, in and of itself, as such, sui generis, by definition, by nature, essentially, in essence, ipso facto, intrinsically, inherently
-
In a true or literal sense; as one would expect from the name or description.
It's not a museum per se, but they do have some interesting artefacts.
Similar: exactly, strictly speaking, sensu stricto, stricto sensu, truly
- As the principle of its own determination and positing itself. Everything not applying per se in one of these two senses is called an accident.
- Not leaving discretion to the judge to take into account additional factors that could rebut the judgment, deriving the qualification from the statute. The law makes drunk driving illegal per se.
adjective
- Positing itself and being a principle of its own determination. Hence, God would have to be the immediate per se cause of some natural motions, but not of all. But no known natural motion is without a natural motion as its immediate per se cause.
- That does not leave discretion to the judge to take into account additional factors that could rebut the judgment, deriving the qualification from the statute. Until recently Denmark hesitated to adopt a formal per se law, preferring to give more discretion to its judges, but the general practice was to take blood tests and to convict those accused under the classical law if the blood alcohol concentration was greater than 100 mg./100 ml.
Translations
Every language
adv in and of itself
| Español | per se |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | それ自体 |
| 中文 | 本身 běnshēn, 仅就……而言 jǐn jiù...éryán |
| Português | em si, per se |
| Français | en soi, per se, en tant que tel |
| Deutsch | per se, an sich, als solches |
| Italiano | di per se, in sé |
| Ελληνικά | ως έχει os échei, καθεαυτού katheaftoú, εξ’ ορισμού ex’ orismoú |
| Română | în sine |
| Русский | сам по себе́ sam po sebé |
| العربية | فِي حَدِّ ذَاتِهِ fī ḥaddi ḏātihi, بِحَدِّ ذَاتِهِ biḥaddi ḏātihi |
| עברית | כשלעצמו kshe-le-ats-mo |
adv as such; as one would expect from the name
| 中文 | 顾名思义 gùmíngsīyì |
|---|---|
| Deutsch | entsprechend seinem Namen, bezeichnungsgemäß, als solches |
Talk about this word "per se." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/per%20se. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. per se. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/per%20se "per se." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/per%20se.Cite this
@misc{per_se_2026,
title = {per se},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/per%20se},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
