ubiquitous

English

WOTD – 16 June 2006

Etymology

From Latin ubique (“everywhere”), from ubi (“where”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /juːˈbɪk.wə.təs/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /juˈbɪk.wɪ.təs/

• Audio (UK)

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• Audio (US)

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• Audio (AU)

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Adjective

ubiquitous (not comparable)

1. Being everywhere at once: omnipresent.

   Synonym: omnipresent

   To Christians, Hindus, Jews, and Muslims, God is ubiquitous.

2. Appearing to be everywhere at once; being or seeming to be in more than one location at the same time.

   Synonym: ever-present

   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “’’Moby Dick’’, Chapter 41”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:

     One of the wild suggestions referred to, as at last coming to be linked with the White Whale in the minds of the superstitiously inclined, was the unearthly conceit that Moby Dick was ubiquitous; that he had actually been encountered in opposite latitudes at one and the same instant of time.

3. Widespread; very prevalent.

   Synonyms: common, pervasive

Quotations

• 1927–1929 – Mahatma Gandhi, An Autobiography or The Story of my Experiments with Truth, Part V (XII) The Stain of Indigo, translated 1940 by Mahadev Desai

  I returned to the Ashram. The ubiquitous Chetaskumar was there too.

Synonyms

• see also Thesaurus:widespread

Derived terms

• ubiquitously

Related terms

• ubiquarian
• ubiquitarian
• ubiquitary
• ubiquiter
• ubiquitin
• ubiquitinate
• ubiquitist
• ubiquity

 

Translations

being everywhere

• Afrikaans: alomteenwoordig
• Bulgarian: повсеместен (bg) (povsemesten)
• Catalan: ubic (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 無處不在的／无处不在的 (zh) (wúchùbùzài de), 無所不在的／无所不在的 (zh) (wúsuǒbùzài de)

• Czech: všudypřítomný (cs)
• Danish: allestedsnærværende (da)
• Dutch: alomtegenwoordig (nl), overal aanwezig
• Finnish: kaikkialla läsnä oleva, ubiikki (fi), yleisesti levinnyt
• French: ubiquiste (fr), ubiquitaire (fr), omniprésent (fr)
• Galician: ubicuo
• Georgian: ყველგან არსებული (q̇velgan arsebuli), გავრცელებული (gavrcelebuli), ყველგან მყოფი (q̇velgan mq̇opi)
• German: allgegenwärtig (de), überall vorhanden, überall verbreitet, ubiquitär (de) (rare)
• Greek: πανταχού παρών (pantachoú parón)
• Hungarian: mindenütt jelen levő
• Italian: ubiquitario (it), onnipresente (it)
• Japanese: 遍在する (ja) (へんざいする, henzai suru)
• Latin: ubique (la), ens ubique, omnipraesens, ens undique
• Macedonian: сепри́сутен (seprísuten)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: allestedsnærværende

  Nynorsk: allstadnærværande

• Occitan: ubic, ubiquïsta, ubiquïtari, omnipresent
• Persian: همه جا‎ (fa) (hame jâ)
• Polish: wszędobylski, wszechobecny (pl)
• Portuguese: ubíquo (pt), omnipresente (pt), onipresente (pt)
• Romanian: ubicuu, omniprezent (ro)
• Russian: вездесу́щий (ru) (vezdesúščij)
• Spanish: ubicuo (es)
• Swedish: allestädes närvarande, allmänt utbredd
• Turkish: aynı zamanda her yerde bulunan, hâzır ve nâzır
• Ukrainian: повсю́дний (povsjúdnyj)
• Urdu: ^{(please verify)} ہر جگا‎ (har jagā)

seeming to appear everywhere at the same time

• Afrikaans: alomteenwoordig
• Bulgarian: вездесъщ (bg) (vezdesǎšt)
• Catalan: ubic (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 無處不在的／无处不在的 (zh) (wúchùbùzài de), 無所不在的／无所不在的 (zh) (wúsuǒbùzài de)

• Czech: všudypřítomný (cs)
• Dutch: alomtegenwoordig (nl)
• Finnish: kaikkialla läsnä oleva, ubiikki (fi)
• French: ubiquiste (fr), ubiquitaire (fr)
• German: allgegenwärtig (de), überall vorhanden
• Greek: πανταχού παρών (pantachoú parón)
• Italian: ubiquitario (it)
• Latin: ubiquitus, visus simul ubique
• Macedonian: сепри́сутен (seprísuten)
• Occitan: ubic, ubiquïtari
• Polish: wszechobecny (pl)
• Portuguese: ubíquo (pt)
• Russian: вездесу́щий (ru) (vezdesúščij)
• Spanish: ubicuo (es), común (es)
• Swedish: (de är, man ser dem) överallt (sv)
• Turkish: hâzır ve nâzır
• Ukrainian: всюдису́щий (vsjudysúščyj), всепрису́тній (vseprysútnij)

widespread — see widespread

Further reading

• “ubiquitous”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “ubiquitous”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• ubiquitous at OneLook Dictionary Search