eternal
[ih-tur-nl]
- without beginning or end; lasting forever; always existing (opposed to temporal): eternal life.
- perpetual; ceaseless; endless: eternal quarreling; eternal chatter.
- enduring; immutable: eternal principles.
- Metaphysics. existing outside all relations of time; not subject to change.
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- something that is eternal.
- the Eternal, God.
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Origin of eternal
Synonyms
See more synonyms for eternal on Thesaurus.com1. permanent, unending. 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. 3. timeless, immortal, deathless, undying, imperishable, indestructible.
Antonyms
1. transitory. 3. mutable.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for eternally
Contemporary Examples
Certain trades, such as medicine or law, are eternally well-respected.
I'm eternally grateful for the efforts that they put into my education.
To celebrate the eternally seductive (and seemingly ageless) actor, we've compiled seven of his best moments.
We never actually see the end to his urination—“Evacuation (eternally not) complete.”
One of those living conduits of female liberty who is eternally reconquering a new generation.
Historical Examples
Once an ape-unit, always an ape-unit; once a man-unit, eternally a man-unit.
Life: Its True GenesisR. W. Wright
The point is that the web should be eternally remade and eternally unraveled.
A Writer's Recollections (In Two Volumes), Volume IMrs. Humphry Ward
Indeed, ‘a war must be eternally waged on evils eternally renewed.’
The Book of KhalidAmeen Rihani
May I be eternally punished for the desertion in which I am forced to leave you!
Abbe Mouret's TransgressionEmile Zola
And if I could go where Martin was I should be with him eternally.
The Woman Thou Gavest MeHall Caine
eternal
- without beginning or end; lasting for evereternal life
- (as noun)the eternal
- (often capital) denoting or relating to that which is without beginning and end, regarded as an attribute of God
- unchanged by time, esp being true or valid for all time; immutableeternal truths
- seemingly unceasing; occurring again and againeternal bickering
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Word Origin
C14: from Late Latin aeternālis, from Latin aeternus; related to Latin aevum age
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for eternally
eternal
adj.
late 14c., from Old French eternel or directly from Late Latin aeternalis, from Latin aeternus "of an age, lasting, enduring, permanent, endless," contraction of aeviternus "of great age," from aevum "age" (see eon). Related: Eternally.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper