infinite

English Online Dictionary. What means infinite‎? What does infinite mean?

English

Etymology

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

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɪnfɪnɪt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɪnfɪnɪt/, /ˈɪnfənɪt/
• 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
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
4. (mathematics) Greater than any positive quantity or magnitude; limitless. [from 17th c.]
5. (set theory, of a set) Having infinitely many elements.
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

Related terms

• infinitive

Translations

Numeral

infinite

1. Infinitely many.

Noun

infinite (plural infinites)

1. Something that is infinite in nature.
2. (video games) A combo that can be used repeatedly without interruption.

References

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.