endless
Americanadjective
-
having or seeming to have no end, limit, or conclusion; boundless; infinite; interminable; incessant.
an endless series of complaints; Time is endless.
- Synonyms:
- perpetual, continuous, unceasing, unending, illimitable, limitless
-
made continuous, as by joining the two ends of a single length.
an endless chain or belt.
adjective
-
having or seeming to have no end; eternal or infinite
-
continuing too long or continually recurring
-
formed with the ends joined
an endless belt
Related Words
See eternal.
Other Word Forms
- endlessly adverb
- endlessness noun
- quasi-endless adjective
- quasi-endlessly adverb
Etymology
Origin of endless
First recorded before 900; Middle English endelees, Old English endelēas. See end 1, -less
Explanation
Things that are endless go on forever, or at least appear to. The ocean looks endless when you sail out of sight of the shore. Endless things are infinite — your love for someone might be endless, and the mathematical symbol of infinity represents an endless number. You're most likely to use this adjective to describe things that only seem to last forever, like an endless meeting at work or an endless commute during rush hour. The Old English root of endless is endeleas, "boundless or eternal."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Even when benefits do end up coming through, the endless chaos, changes to the program, and fear around access to food are taking a toll.
From Slate • Apr. 19, 2026
The Pope also condemned "an endless cycle of destabilisation and death" in a "bloodstained" region of Cameroon that had been gripped by insurgency for nearly a decade.
From BBC • Apr. 18, 2026
Features like endless scroll and recommendation algorithms are reliant on the content being served, he argues, so the features in and of themselves cannot cause harm.
From Salon • Apr. 16, 2026
Yet other institutions, having failed and become sources of endless sorrow, live on, decade after decade, immune from criticism.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 15, 2026
“That would have made the trip endless for her. They’d be running into each other all the way across the you-know-what.”
From "Secrets at Sea" by Richard Peck
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
