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View synonyms for eternal

eternal

[ ih-tur-nl ]

adjective

  1. without beginning or end; lasting forever; always existing ( temporal ):

    eternal life.

    Synonyms: permanent

    Antonyms: transitory

  2. eternal quarreling;

    eternal chatter.

  3. eternal principles.

    Synonyms: indestructible, imperishable, undying, deathless, immortal, timeless

    Antonyms: mutable

  4. Metaphysics. existing outside all relations of time; not subject to change.


noun

  1. something that is eternal.
  2. the Eternal. God.

eternal

/ ɪˈtɜːnəl /

adjective

    1. without beginning or end; lasting for ever

      eternal life

    2. ( as noun )

      the eternal

  1. often capital denoting or relating to that which is without beginning and end, regarded as an attribute of God
  2. unchanged by time, esp being true or valid for all time; immutable

    eternal truths

  3. seemingly unceasing; occurring again and again

    eternal bickering

“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


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Derived Forms

  • ˌeterˈnality, noun
  • eˈternally, adverb
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Other Words From

  • e·ter·nal·i·ty [ee-tur-, nal, -i-tee], e·ter·nal·ness noun
  • e·ter·nal·ly adverb
  • non·e·ter·nal adjective
  • non·e·ter·nal·ness noun
  • pre·e·ter·nal adjective
  • qua·si-e·ter·nal adjective
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Word History and Origins

Origin of eternal1

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English eternale, eterneel, from Old French eternal, eternel, from Late Latin aeternālis, equivalent to aetern(us) ( eterne ) + -ālis -al 1
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Word History and Origins

Origin of eternal1

C14: from Late Latin aeternālis, from Latin aeternus; related to Latin aevum age
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Synonym Study

Eternal, endless, everlasting, perpetual imply lasting or going on without ceasing. That which is eternal is, by its nature, without beginning or end: God, the eternal Father. That which is endless never stops but goes on continuously as if in a circle: an endless succession of years. That which is everlasting will endure through all future time: a promise of everlasting life. Perpeptual implies continuous renewal as far into the future as one can foresee: perpetual strife between nations.
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Example Sentences

Motivated by eternal salvation, parents and leaders made sure the children learned to read.

To us mayfly-humans, they may as well be eternal and unchanging.

Yet even as the glow from the contests and bikinis faded, their pictures still command attention today, an exuberance of sex and life imbued with the permanence of an eternal flame.

From Ozy

In another, he warns that the “price of freedom is eternal vigilance,” according to a recording from the Detroit News.

Hosts are, by their nature, “eternal beginners” — each bidder effectively starts from scratch on a megaproject where there is, in that city, almost no relevant institutional memory for running one.

From Ozy

The speaker conjures up centuries of collective sagacity, aligning oneself with an eternal, inarguable good.

He stated—quite rightly—that animals are never mentioned in connection with eternal life in the Bible.

In 2008 then Pope Benedict XVI stated quite pointedly that animals are “not called to the eternal life.”

What had seemed immutable and eternal (“With the Soviet Union forever”) turned out to be a fleeting episode.

It may also have left them somewhat untethered, drifting in between their own lives and the eternal mysteries.

Was he really condemned to an eternal solitude because of the girl who had died so many years ago?

Under all man's dreams of eternal gods and eternal heavens lies man's passion for the eternal feminine.

Goodness only knew what a falchion was, but there was the Griffin, and his history was an improvement upon the eternal Cat.

And yet the demand has the clearest and strongest basis of natural and eternal justice, as any fair mind must confess.

Here again we have the landscape of Lorraine and the eternal and infinitely varied theme of rural labour.

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EteocretanEternal City