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. Doublet of infinito. Displaced native Old English unġeendodlīċ.

Pronunciation edit

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈɪnfɪnɪt/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈɪnfɪnɪt/, /ˈɪnfənɪt/
  • (file)
  • Hyphenation: in‧fi‧nite

Adjective edit

infinite (comparative more infinite, superlative most infinite)

  1. Indefinably large, countlessly great; immense. [from 14th c.]
    Synonyms: immeasurable, inestimable, vast
  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
  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.[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

Derived terms edit

Related terms edit

Translations edit

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

Numeral edit

infinite

  1. Infinitely many.

Noun edit

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 []

References edit

  1. ^ 1852, John Weeks Moore, Complete Encyclopædia of Music

Italian edit

Pronunciation edit

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

Adjective edit

infinite

  1. feminine plural of infinito

Latin edit

Pronunciation edit

Adjective edit

īnfīnīte

  1. vocative masculine singular of īnfīnītus

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