Wiktionary

eternal

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Middle English eternal, from Old French eternal, from Late Latin aeternālis, from Latin aeternus (“eternal”), from aevum (“age”). Displaced native Old English ēċe.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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eternal (comparative more eternal, superlative most eternal)

  1. Lasting forever; unending.
    Synonyms: agelong, endless, everlasting, permanent, sempiternal, unending; see also Thesaurus:eternal
    Antonyms: ephemeral, momentary, transient; see also Thesaurus:ephemeral
    • 1690, John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding:
      But here again it is another question, quite different from our having an idea of eternity, to know whether there were any real being, whose duration has been eternal.
    • 1700 [c. 1387–1400], John, transl. Dryden, “Palamon and Arcite”, in Fables, Ancient and Modern, translation of The Knight's Tale by Geoffrey Chaucer:
      Thy smoking altar shall be fat with food / Of incense and the grateful steam of blood; / Burnt-offerings morn and evening shall be thine, / And fires eternal in thy temple shine.
    • 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Virmire:
      Organic life is nothing but a genetic mutation, an accident. Your lives are measured in years and decades. You wither and die.
      We are eternal. The pinnacle of evolution and existence. Before us, you are nothing. Your extinction is inevitable. We are the end of everything.
    • 2012 May 27, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “New Kid On The Block” (season 4, episode 8; originally aired 11/12/1992)”, in The Onion AV Club‎[1]:
      In a bid to understand the eternal mystery that is woman, Bart goes to the least qualified possible source for advice and counsel: his father, who remarkably seems to have made it to his mid-30s without quite figuring out much of anything.
  2. (philosophy) Existing outside time; as opposed to sempiternal, existing within time but everlastingly.
    Synonyms: timeless, atemporal; see also Thesaurus:timeless
  3. (hyperbolic) Constant; perpetual; ceaseless; ever-present.
    • 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London, New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:
      Beneath him you might have seen the three of us - myself, sunburnt, young, and vigorous after our open-air tramp; Summerlee, solemn but still critical, behind his eternal pipe; Lord John, as keen as a razor-edge, with his supple, alert figure leaning upon his rifle, and his eager eyes fixed eagerly upon the speaker.
  4. (dated) Exceedingly great or bad; used as an intensifier.
    Synonym: awful
    some eternal villain

Usage notes

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May be used postpositively, as in peace eternal, possibly as a result of Latin influence.[1]

Derived terms

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Translations

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Noun

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eternal (plural eternals)

  1. One who lives forever; an immortal.
    • 2012, D. E. Phoenix, Revelations of the Fallen: The Blasphemy of Astrial Belthromoto:
      Yes, I want that raw power that is only offered to the eternals or creators

References

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  1. ^ Peter Hugoe Matthews (2014) The Positions of Adjectives in English, Oxford Univeristy Press, →ISBN, page 172

Anagrams

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Catalan

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin aeternālis. First attested in the 14th century.[1]

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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eternal m or f (masculine and feminine plural eternals)

  1. eternal
    Synonym: etern

References

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  1. ^ “eternal”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024

Further reading

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Galician

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Etymology

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From Latin aeternālis.

Adjective

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eternal m or f (plural eternais)

  1. (formal) eternal
    Synonym: eterno

Further reading

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Middle English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Old French eternal, eternel, from Latin aeternālis; equivalent to eterne +‎ -al.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ɛːtɛrˈnaːl/, /ɛːˈtɛrnal/, /ɛːtɛrˈnɛːl/

Adjective

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eternal

  1. Eternal, permanent; having existed (and existing) forever.
  2. Endless, unending; lasting forever.
  3. (rare) Long-lasting; non-ephemeral.

Synonyms

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Descendants

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  • English: eternal, tarnal
  • Scots: eternal

References

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Occitan

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Etymology

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From Latin aeternālis.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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eternal m (feminine singular eternala, masculine plural eternals, feminine plural eternalas)

  1. eternal
    Synonym: etèrn

Portuguese

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin aeternālis.

Pronunciation

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  • Hyphenation: e‧ter‧nal

Adjective

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eternal m or f (plural eternais, not comparable)

  1. eternal
    Synonym: eterno

Further reading

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Spanish

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Etymology

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From Latin aeternālis.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /eteɾˈnal/ [e.t̪eɾˈnal]
  • Rhymes: -al
  • Syllabification: e‧ter‧nal

Adjective

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eternal m or f (masculine and feminine plural eternales)

  1. eternal
    Synonym: eterno

Further reading

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