From Middle English for ever, for evere, equivalent to for + ever.

• (RP) IPA: /fəˈɹɛvə(ɹ)/
• (America) IPA: /fəˈɹɛvɚ/, [fəˈɹɛvɚ], [fɚˈɛvɚ], [fɔɹˈɛvɚ]

forever (not comparable)

1. (duration) For all time, for all eternity; for a lifetime; for an infinite amount of time.

   I shall love you forever.

   • 1839, Denison Olmsted, A Compendium of Astronomy, page 95:

     Secondly, When a body is once in motion it will continue to move forever, unless something stops it. When a ball is struck on the surface of the earth, the friction of the earth and the resistance of the air soon stop its motion.

   • 1949, George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four:

     If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face &emdash; for ever.

2. (duration, colloquial, hyperbole) For a very long time, a seeming eternity.

   We had to wait forever to get inside.

   That was forever ago.

   • 1988, Anne Tyler, chapter 1, in Breathing Lessons:

     She and Serena had been friends forever. Or nearly forever: forty-two years, beginning with Miss Kimmel's first grade.

3. (frequency) Constantly or frequently.

   You are forever nagging me.

   • 1912 October, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Tarzan of the Apes”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., →OCLC ↗; republished as chapter 5, in Tarzan of the Apes, New York, N.Y.: A. L. Burt Company, 1914 June, →OCLC ↗:

     Early in his boyhood he had learned to form ropes by twisting and tying long grasses together, and with these he was forever tripping Tublat or attempting to hang him from some overhanging branch.

• everlasting
• every
• everyday
• never

• nevermore
• whatever
• whenever
• whoever

• everlasting
• every
• everyday
• never

• nevermore
• whatever
• whenever
• whoever

• French: à jamais, pour toujours
• German: für immer, ewig, unaufhörlich, auf immer, für eger
• Italian: per sempre
• Portuguese: para sempre
• Russian: ве́чно
• Spanish: para siempre

• German: ewig, für immer
• Russian: целую вечность

• German: ewig, für immer
• Russian: целую вечность
• Spanish: por siempre

• German: ewig, ständig, unaufhörlich, andauernd
• Russian: ве́чно
• Spanish: constantemente, sin cesar

forever (plural forevers)

1. An extremely long time.

   I haven't seen him in forever!

   It took me forever to make up my mind.

   Don't spend forever on the phone!

   • 2007, Ruth O'Callaghan, Where acid has etched:

     In the airport, holiday lovers kiss, mouth forevers, the usual argot betrays you. Desire makes love dull.

2. (colloquial) A mythical time in the infinite future that will never come.

   Sure, I'd be happy to meet with you on the 12th of forever.

• Spanish: eternidad

forever (not comparable)

1. Permanent, lasting; constant, perpetual.
   • 1971, Bruce Johnston, "Disney Girls (1957)":

     It'd be a peaceful life / With a forever wife / And a kid someday

   • 2009, Kathy Kadilak, Tommy Finds His Forever Home, page 3:

     We'll take care of you and help you find a Forever Home.

   • 2012, Brad Hicks, For Every Fear a Promise, page 96:

     He is a forever friend.

   • 2016, Mark Danner, Spiral: Trapped in the Forever War:

     Danner posits that the United States has been trapped in a "forever war" by 9/11, and describes a nation that has been altered in fundamental ways by President Bush's having declared a war of choice and without an exit plan, […]