infinite

See also: infinité

EnglishEdit

EtymologyEdit

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.

PronunciationEdit

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

AdjectiveEdit

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.]
    • 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.
    Synonyms: countless; see also Thesaurus:innumerable
  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], retrieved 2012-11-20:
      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 notesEdit

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.

AntonymsEdit

HyponymsEdit

Derived termsEdit

Related termsEdit

TranslationsEdit

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

NumeralEdit

infinite

  1. Infinitely many.

NounEdit

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 771863316, 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 []

ReferencesEdit

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

ItalianEdit

PronunciationEdit

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

AdjectiveEdit

infinite

  1. feminine plural of infinito

LatinEdit

PronunciationEdit

AdjectiveEdit

īnfīnīte

  1. vocative masculine singular of īnfīnītus

ReferencesEdit

  • 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