infinite
Etymology
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.003
Etymology
From Middle English infinite, from Old French infinit and Latin infīnītus, from in- + fīnis + the perfect passive participle ending -itus.
Pronunciation Adjectiveinfinite
- Indefinably large, countlessly great; immense. [from 14th c.]
- Synonyms: immeasurable, inestimable, vast
- 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 40, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book I, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC ↗:
- The number is so infinite, that verily it would be an easier matter for me to reckon up those that have feared the same.
- 1735, Henry Brooke, Universal Beauty:
- Whatever is finite, as finite, will admit of no comparative relation with infinity; for whatever is less than infinite is still infinitely distant from infinity; and lower than infinite distance the lowest or least cannot sink.
- c. 1589–1590 (date written), Christopher Marlo[we], edited by Tho[mas] Heywood, The Famous Tragedy of the Rich Iew of Malta. […], London: […] I[ohn] B[eale] for Nicholas Vavasour, […], published 1633, →OCLC ↗, (please specify the page):
- infinite riches in a little room
- 1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC ↗:
- which infinite calamity shall cause to human life
- Boundless, endless, without end or limits; innumerable. [from 15th c.]
- Synonyms: amaranthine, boundless, endless, interminable, limitless, unbounded, unending, unlimited, Thesaurus:infinite, Thesaurus:eternal
- (with plural noun) Infinitely many. [from 15th c.]
- Synonyms: countless, Thesaurus:innumerable
- 2012, Helen Donelan, Karen Kear, Magnus Ramage, Online Communication and Collaboration: A Reader:
- Huxley's theory says that if you provide infinite monkeys with infinite typewriters, some monkey somewhere will eventually create a masterpiece – a play by Shakespeare, a Platonic dialogue, or an economic treatise by Adam Smith.
- (mathematics) Greater than any positive quantity or magnitude; limitless. [from 17th c.]
- (set theory, of a set) Having infinitely many elements.
- (grammar) Not limited by person or number. [from 19th c.]
- (music) Capable of endless repetition; said of certain forms of the canon, also called perpetual fugues, constructed so that their ends lead to their beginnings.
- French: infini
- German: unendlich, endlos, unbegrenzt, unbeschränkt
- Italian: infinito
- Portuguese: infinito
- Russian: бесконе́чный
- Spanish: infinito
- French: un nombre infini de
- German: unendlich
- Portuguese: infinito
- Russian: бесконе́чный
- French: infini
- German: unendlich groß
- Portuguese: infinito
- Russian: бесконе́чный
- Infinitely many.
infinite (plural infinites)
- Something that is infinite in nature.
- 1827–1879 (date written), Alfred Tennyson, “Part I”, in The Lover’s Tale, London: C[harles] Kegan Paul & Co., […], published 1879, →OCLC ↗, pages 34–35 ↗:
- Sooner Earth / Might go round Heaven, and the strait girth of Time / Inswathe the fulness of Eternity, / Than language grasp the infinite of Love.
- 2004, Teun Koetsier, Luc Bergmans, Mathematics and the Divine: A Historical Study, page 449:
- Cautiously, Hobbes avoided asserting the equality of these infinites, and explicitly characterized the relation between them as non-inequality.
- (video games) A combo that can be used repeatedly without interruption.
- 2007, Adam Deats, Joe Epstein, Virtua Fighter 5, page 14:
- […] prevents overpowered combos and infinites […]
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.003
