immeasurability

English

Etymology

From im- +‎ measurability.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪˈmɛʒəɹəbɪl.ə.ti/, /ɪˈmɛʒɹəbɪl.ɪ.ti/
• Hyphenation: im‧mea‧sur‧a‧bil‧ity

Noun

immeasurability (usually uncountable, plural immeasurabilities)

1. Synonym of immeasurableness
   • 1824, The Parliamentary Debates‎^[1], International Government Document, pages 1109–1110:

     As we have become resident, we are proscribed under the title of absentees: as we have grown poor, we are taunted with the immeasurability of our wealth.

   • 1833, Giuseppe Pecchio, Semi-serious Observations of an Italian Exile During His Residence in England‎^[2], Key and Biddle, page 62:

     The Italian sailors of the Mediterranean, and the Greeks of the Archipelago, who very rarely leave behind them the pillars of Hercules, are for the most part married, because their voyages are of short duration, and they can often return to the bosoms of their families: but the English, who by the immeasurability of their commerce are citizens of the world, would, if they were married, too seldom enjoy their home.

   • 1849-1858, Alexander von Humboldt, Elise C. Otté, Benjamin Horatio Paul, William Sweetland Dallas, Cosmos: A Sketch of a Physical Description of the Universe‎^[3], H.G. Bohn, page 310:

     However much this richness in animated forms, and this multitude of the most various and highly-developed microscopic organisms may agreeably excite the fancy, the imagination is even more seriously, and, I might say, more solemnly moved by the impression of boundlessness? and immeasurability, which are presented to the mind by every sea voyage.

   • 1863, Thomas De Quincey, Murder, As One of the Fine Arts, the English Mail Coach‎^[4], page 259:

     The singularity of the case is, that the very solemnity of the legend, and the immeasurability of time, depend upon the cubical contents of the monument, so that a loss of one granite chip is a loss of a frightful infinity; yet, again, for that very reason, the loss of all but a chip, leaves behind a time-fund so appallingly inexhaustible, that everybody becomes careless about the four cubits.

   • 1871, Plato, translated by Benjamin Jowett, The Dialogues of Plato‎^[5], Clarendon Press, page 428:

     Retail trade in a city is not by nature intended to do any harm, but quite the contrary; for is not he a benefactor who reduces the inequalities and immeasurabilities of goods to equality and measure?

   • 1883, Paul Samuel Reinsch, Knowledge: An Illustrated Magazine of Science Plainly Worded-Exactly Described, Volume 4 Issue 106‎^[6], Houghton Mifflin Company, page 295:

     And in sight of this immeasurability of life, no sadness could endure, but only joy that knew no limit, and happy prayers.