eternal
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English[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Middle English eternal, from Old French eternal, from Late Latin aeternālis, from Latin aeternus (“eternal”), from aevum (“age”).
Pronunciation[edit]
- (General American) IPA(key): /ɪˈtɝnəl/
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ɪˈtɜːnəl/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)nəl
- Hyphenation: eter‧nal
Adjective[edit]
eternal (not comparable)
- Lasting forever; unending.
- 1690, Locke, John, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding:
- But here again it is another question, quite different from our having an idea of eternity, to know whether there were any real being, whose duration has been eternal.
- 1700 [c. 1387–1400], Dryden, John, transl., “Palamon and Arcite”, in Fables, Ancient and Modern, translation of The Knight's Tale by Geoffrey Chaucer:
- Thy smoking altar shall be fat with food / Of incense and the grateful steam of blood; / Burnt-offerings morn and evening shall be thine, / And fires eternal in thy temple shine.
- 2012 May 27, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “New Kid On The Block” (season 4, episode 8; originally aired 11/12/1992)”, in The Onion AV Club[1]:
- In a bid to understand the eternal mystery that is woman, Bart goes to the least qualified possible source for advice and counsel: his father, who remarkably seems to have made it to his mid-30s without quite figuring out much of anything.
- Synonyms: agelong, endless, everlasting, permanent, sempiternal, unending; see also Thesaurus:eternal
- Antonyms: ephemeral, momentary, transient; see also Thesaurus:ephemeral
- (philosophy) existing outside time; as opposed to sempiternal, existing within time but everlastingly
- Synonyms: timeless, atemporal; see also Thesaurus:timeless
- (hyperbolic) Constant; perpetual; ceaseless; ever-present.
- 1912, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World[2]:
- Beneath him you might have seen the three of us - myself, sunburnt, young, and vigorous after our open-air tramp; Summerlee, solemn but still critical, behind his eternal pipe; Lord John, as keen as a razor-edge, with his supple, alert figure leaning upon his rifle, and his eager eyes fixed eagerly upon the speaker.
- (dated) Exceedingly great or bad; used as an intensifier.
- some eternal villain
- Synonym: awful
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
lasting forever
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Noun[edit]
eternal (plural eternals)
- One who lives forever; an immortal.
- 2012, D. E. Phoenix, Revelations of the Fallen: The Blasphemy of Astrial Belthromoto:
- Yes, I want that raw power that is only offered to the eternals or creators
Anagrams[edit]
Catalan[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Latin aeternālis, attested from the 14th century.[1]
Pronunciation[edit]
Adjective[edit]
eternal (masculine and feminine plural eternals)
References[edit]
- ^ “eternal” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
Further reading[edit]
- “eternal” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
- “eternal” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
- “eternal” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
Galician[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Latin aeternālis.
Adjective[edit]
eternal m or f (plural eternais)
Further reading[edit]
- “eternal” in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega, Royal Galician Academy.
Middle English[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Borrowed from Old French eternal, eternel, from Latin aeternālis; equivalent to eterne + -al.
Pronunciation[edit]
Adjective[edit]
eternal
- Eternal, permanent; having existed (and existing) forever.
- Endless, unending; lasting forever.
- (rare) Long-lasting; non-ephemeral.
Synonyms[edit]
Descendants[edit]
References[edit]
- “ēternā̆l, -ē̆l, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-01-19.
Occitan[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Latin aeternālis.
Adjective[edit]
eternal m (feminine singular eternala, masculine plural eternals, feminine plural eternalas)
Portuguese[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Latin aeternālis.
Adjective[edit]
eternal m or f (plural eternais, not comparable)
Further reading[edit]
- “eternal” in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa.
Spanish[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Latin aeternālis.
Adjective[edit]
eternal (plural eternales)
Further reading[edit]
- “eternal” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.
Categories:
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *h₂ey-
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- enm:Time
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- es:Time