infinite
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See also: infinité
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
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[edit]
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈɪnfɪnɪt/
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈɪnfɪnɪt/, /ˈɪnfənɪt/
Audio (US) (file) - Hyphenation: in‧fi‧nite
Adjective[edit]
infinite (comparative more infinite, superlative most infinite)
- 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
- 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.
- (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.
- (mathematics) Greater than any positive quantity or magnitude; limitless. [from 17th c.]
- (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.
- (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[1].
Usage notes[edit]
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[edit]
Hyponyms[edit]
- (set theory): countably infinite
- (set theory): uncountable
Derived terms[edit]
Related terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
figuratively, very large
|
boundless, endless
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with plural noun: infinitely many
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greater than any positive quantity or magnitude
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having infinitely many elements
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grammar: not limited by person or number
|
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
Numeral[edit]
infinite
- Infinitely many.
Noun[edit]
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 […]
References[edit]
- ^ 1852, John Weeks Moore, Complete Encyclopædia of Music
Italian[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Adjective[edit]
infinite
Latin[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
- (Classical) IPA(key): /in.fiːˈniː.te/, [ĩːfiːˈniːt̪ɛ]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /in.fiˈni.te/, [iɱfiˈniːt̪e]
Adjective[edit]
īnfīnīte
References[edit]
- “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
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