infinite

See also: infinité

English

Etymology

From Middle English infinite, from Old French infinit and Latin infīnītus, from in- (“not”) + fīnis (“end”) + the perfect passive participle ending -itus. Displaced native Old English unġeendodlīċ.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɪnfɪnɪt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɪnfɪnɪt/, /ˈɪnfənɪt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: in‧fi‧nite

Adjective

infinite (comparative more infinite, superlative most infinite)

1. 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, Christopher Marlo[we], edited by Tho[mas] Heywood, The Famous Tragedy of the Rich Ievv of Malta. […], London: […] I[ohn] B[eale] for Nicholas Vavasour, […], published 1633, →OCLC, Act 1:

     infinite riches in a little room

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     which infinite calamity shall cause to human life

2. Boundless, endless, without end or limits; innumerable. [from 15th c.]

   Synonyms: amaranthine, boundless, endless, interminable, limitless, unbounded, unending, unlimited; see also Thesaurus:infinite, Thesaurus:eternal

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 147:5:

     Great is our Lord, and of great power; his understanding is infinite.

3. (with plural noun) Infinitely many. [from 15th c.]

   Synonyms: countless; see also 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.

4. (mathematics) Greater than any positive quantity or magnitude; limitless. [from 17th c.]
5. (set theory, of a set) Having infinitely many elements.
   • 2009, Brandon C. Look, “Symbolic Logic II, Lecture 2: Set Theory”, in www.uky.edu/~look‎^[1], archived from the original on 19 June 2018:

     For any infinite set, there is a 1-1 correspondence between it and at least one of its proper subsets. For example, there is a 1-1 correspondence between the set of natural numbers and the set of squares of natural numbers, which is a proper subset of the set of natural numbers.

6. (grammar) Not limited by person or number. [from 19th c.]
7. (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.

Usage notes

Although the term is incomparable in the precise sense, it can be comparable both in mathematics and set theory to compare different degrees of infinity, and informally to denote yet a larger thing.

Poets (and particularly hymn-writers before the 20th century) would commonly rhyme the word as though pronounced [-ɑɪnɑɪt] and church congregations still on occasion adopt that pronunciation.

Antonyms

• finite
• infinitesimal
• limited

Hyponyms

• (set theory): countably infinite
• (set theory): uncountable

Derived terms

• bi-infinite
• doubly infinite
• infinite continued fraction
• infinite descent
• infinite loop
• infinitely
• infinite monkey theorem
• infinite recursion
• infinite regress
• infinite scroll
• infinite series
• infinitesimal
• infinite suicide
• infinitude
• infinity
• in one's infinite wisdom

 

Related terms

• infinitive

Translations

figuratively, very large

• Afrikaans: oneindig
• Bulgarian: безчислен (bg) (bezčislen)
• Dutch: oneindig (nl), eindeloos (nl)
• Finnish: ääretön (fi)
• French: infini (fr)
• Georgian: უსასრულო (usasrulo), უსაზღვრო (usazɣvro)
• German: unendlich (de), endlos (de), unzählige (de)
• Japanese: 途方もない (ja) (tohō mo nai), 巨大な (ja) (kyodai na)
• Maori: manomano, manotini
• Portuguese: infinito (pt) m
• Romanian: infinit (ro) m, nelimitat (ro), nesfârșit (ro)
• Russian: бесконе́чный (ru) (beskonéčnyj), несме́тный (ru) (nesmétnyj), бесчи́сленный (ru) (besčíslennyj)
• Slovene: neskončen
• Swedish: oändlig (sv), ändlös (sv)
• Turkish: devasa (tr)
• Ukrainian: неося́жний (uk) (neosjážnyj)
• Vietnamese: vô bờ, bất tận

boundless, endless

• Afrikaans: oneindig
• Armenian: անվերջ (hy) (anverǰ)
• Belarusian: бяско́нцы (bjaskóncy), бескане́чны (bjeskanjéčny)
• Bulgarian: безкра́ен (bg) (bezkráen), безконе́чен (bg) (bezkonéčen)
• Burmese: အနန္တ (my) (a.nanta.)
• Catalan: infinit (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 無窮／无穷 (zh) (wúqióng), 無限／无限 (zh) (wúxiàn)

• Czech: nekonečný (cs) m
• Dutch: oneindig (nl), eindeloos (nl)
• Esperanto: senfina (eo)
• Finnish: ääretön (fi), päättymätön (fi)
• French: infini (fr)
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: unendlich (de), endlos (de), unbegrenzt (de), unbeschränkt (de)
• Greek: άπειρος (el) (ápeiros)

  Ancient: ἄπειρος (ápeiros), ἀπέραντος (apérantos)

• Indonesian: nirbatas
• Irish: éigríochta
• Italian: infinito (it)
• Japanese: 果てしない (ja) (hateshinai), 無限の (ja) (mugen no)
• Kazakh: ақырсыз (aqyrsyz)
• Khmer: គ្មានទីបំផុត (kmien tii bɑmpʰot)
• Korean: 무한 (ko) (muhan)
• Latin: infīnītus
• Luxembourgish: onendlech
• Macedonian: бесконечен (beskonečen), бескраен (beskraen)
• Malay: tidak terbatas, tidak terhad
• Maori: mutungakore
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Norman: înfinni
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: uendelig (no), endeløs, grenseløs

  Nynorsk: uendeleg, endelaus, grenselaus

• Old English: unġeendodlīċ
• Polish: nieskończony (pl) m
• Portuguese: infinito (pt) m
• Romanian: infinit (ro) m, fără limită
• Russian: бесконе́чный (ru) (beskonéčnyj), безграни́чный (ru) (bezgraníčnyj), беспреде́льный (ru) (bespredélʹnyj), бескра́йний (ru) (beskrájnij)
• Sanskrit: अनन्त (sa) (ananta), अदिति (sa) (aditi)
• Serbo-Croatian: beskonačan (sh) m
• Sinhalese: අනන්ත (si) (ananta)
• Slovak: nekonečný
• Slovene: neskončen
• Spanish: infinito (es)
• Swedish: oändlig (sv), ändlös (sv), gränslös (sv)
• Tagalog: awangganin
• Thai: อนันต์ (th) (à-nan), ไม่มีที่สิ้นสุด
• Turkish: sonsuz (tr), sınırsız (tr)
• Ukrainian: нескінче́нний (neskinčénnyj), безконе́чний (uk) (bezkonéčnyj)
• Urdu: لامتناہی‎ (lāmutanāhī)
• Vietnamese: vô hạn (vi), bất tận

with plural noun: infinitely many

• French: un nombre infini de
• Ukrainian: незліче́нна кі́лькість f (nezličénna kílʹkistʹ)

greater than any positive quantity or magnitude

• Afrikaans: oneindig
• Bulgarian: безкраен (bg) (bezkraen) (literally)
• Catalan: infinit (ca)
• Dutch: oneindig (nl)
• Finnish: ääretön (fi)
• German: unendlich (de)
• Greek: άπειρο (el) n (ápeiro)
• Irish: éigríochta
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: uendelig (no)

  Nynorsk: uendeleg

• Polish: nieskończony (pl) m
• Portuguese: infinito (pt) m
• Romanian: infinit (ro) m
• Russian: бесконе́чный (ru) (beskonéčnyj)
• Slovene: neskončen
• Swedish: oändlig (sv)
• Tagalog: awangganin
• Ukrainian: нескінче́нний (neskinčénnyj)

having infinitely many elements

• Afrikaans: oneindig
• Catalan: infinit (ca)
• French: infini (fr)
• German: unendlich groß
• Irish: éigríochta
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: uendelig (no)

  Nynorsk: uendeleg

• Portuguese: infinito (pt) m
• Romanian: infinit (ro)
• Russian: бесконе́чный (ru) (beskonéčnyj)
• Tagalog: awangganin
• Ukrainian: нескінче́нний (neskinčénnyj)

grammar: not limited by person or number

• Bulgarian: неопределен (bg) (neopredelen)

music: capable of endless repetition

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Arabic: ^{(please verify)} لَا نِهَائِيّ‎ (lā nihāʔiyy)
• German: ^{(please verify)} unendlich (de)
• Latin: ^{(please verify)} infinitus m
• Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 无限 (zh) (wú xiàn)
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} infinito (es)

Numeral

infinite

1. Infinitely many.

Noun

infinite (plural infinites)

1. 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.

2. (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 […]

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /in.fiˈni.te/
• Rhymes: -ite
• Hyphenation: in‧fi‧nì‧te

Adjective

infinite

1. feminine plural of infinito

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /in.fiːˈniː.te/, [ĩːfiːˈniːt̪ɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /in.fiˈni.te/, [iɱfiˈniːt̪e]

Adjective

īnfīnīte

1. vocative masculine singular of īnfīnītus

References

• “infinite”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “infinite”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• infinite in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette