finity

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English[edit]

Noun[edit]

finity (countable and uncountable, plural finities) (rare)

  1. (uncountable) The state or characteristic of being limited in number or scope.
    • 1874, Julian Hawthorne, chapter 31, in Idolatry: A Romance:
      He was calm in the conviction that he could measure and calculate the universe [] He matched finity against the Infinite.
    • 1899, Jack London, The White Silence:
      Nature has many tricks wherewith she convinces man of his finity.
    • 1987, Julius Thomas Fraser, Time, the Familiar Stranger, →ISBN, page 37:
      In a very non-Aristotelian fashion, Nicholas of Cusa produced a synthesis of finity and infinity.
    • 2006, Rolf A. F. Witzsche, Universal Divine Science: Spiritual Pedagogicals, →ISBN, page 106:
      We [] labor to find our identity in the infinite in spite of our encumberment in finity.
  2. (countable) Something which is limited in number or scope.
    • 1837 September 2, “The Transcendalist's Dialogues: No. IX”, in The Shepherd, volume 3, number 10, page 79:
      If we imagined a person capable of comprehending infinity, we should merely think that he was able infinitely to add up finities.
    • 1884 January, “Prayer and Science”, in Methodist Quarterly Review (4th)‎[1], volume 66, page 8:
      And this condescension of infinite Perfection to the finities—to their imperfections, contingencies, and littlenesses—is the very result of its perfection.

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References[edit]

  • Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1989.