perpetuator

A perpetuator is an agent that causes a process, condition, or trend to continue or be prolonged. In this sense, a perpetuator can be a person, an organization, a tradition, or a mechanism that sustains something beyond its intended duration. The term is formed from perpetuate plus the agentive suffix -or and is more common in formal or analytical writing than in everyday speech.

Perpetuator is distinct from perpetrator. The latter refers to a person who commits a wrongful act, while perpetuator emphasizes continuation or maintenance, whether neutral, positive, or negative. Nonetheless, in critical or evaluative contexts it can carry a negative connotation, implying responsibility for ongoing harm or injustice through inaction or policy.

Common contexts include culture and tradition (a perpetuator of a ritual), institutions and systems that sustain inequality, economic or environmental conditions that persist, or myths and stereotypes that keep a worldview in place.

Etymology: from Latin perpetuare “to make perpetual,” from perpetuus “lasting, continuous,” with the agentive suffix -or forming perpetuator.

See also: perpetuate, perpetuation, sustainability, tradition, perpetrator.