infinitive

American  

[in-fin-i-tiv] / ɪnˈfɪn ɪ tɪv /

noun

• infinitives
  plural

1. infin.

   1. in English, the simple or basic form of a verb, with no endings to indicate the verb’s subject or tense, such as come, take, eat, be: used after auxiliary verbs or preceded by the word to, and sometimes functioning as a noun, such as He must be, I want to eat, To love is to understand.

   2. a verb form found in many other languages that has a similar function, such as French venir “to come” or Latin esse “to be.”

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adjective

1. consisting of or containing an infinitive: infin.

   an infinitive construction.

infinitive British  

/ ɪnˈfɪnɪtɪv, ˌɪnfɪnɪˈtaɪvəl /

noun

1. a form of the verb not inflected for grammatical categories such as tense and person and used without an overt subject. In English, the infinitive usually consists of the word to followed by the verb

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infinitive Cultural  

1. The simple or dictionary form of a verb: walk, think, fly, exist. Often the word to marks a verb as an infinitive: “to walk,” “to think,” “to fly,” “to exist.”

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Usage

What is an infinitive? An infinitive is the basic form of a verb, having no tense and not being conjugated. In English, an infinitive is preceded by the word to. In English, the infinitive form of the verb is the one you will see listed in dictionaries like this one. When infinitives are used in sentences, they follow auxiliary verbs, as in I should try,  or function words, as in I want to sleep. Infinitives can serve other purposes as well, such as acting like nouns (To err is human), adjectives (I have no place to sleep), or adverbs (We eat to live).

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• infinitival
  adjective
• infinitively
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• infinitives
  plural

Etymology

Origin of infinitive

First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English, from Late Latin infīnītīvus “indefinite”; equivalent to in- ³ + finite + -ive

Compare meaning

How does infinitive compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• gerund vs. infinitive

Explanation

"To be or not to be?" In his most famous line, Hamlet was using the infinitive form of the verb "be." The infinitive form of a verb is its most basic form, usually its "to" version. The word infinitive comes from the Latin infinitus meaning "unbounded, unlimited." When a verb is in its infinite form, it's not limited or bound by its subject or tense. Contrast "to be" with "was" — was is tied to the past tense and a single person. Strip away the word to from "to be" and you have what's known as a bare infinitive. Keep the to there and you've got a full infinitive.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

infinitive infinitives

Sitaridou's analysis of the Romeyka infinitive is key.

From Science Daily ● Apr. 2, 2024

Correct French would not have used the infinitive “tuer,” but rather the past participle, ending with an “e” to agree with the female writer, Ms. Marchal.

From New York Times ● Nov. 20, 2021

Several chalkboard placards display notes on different topics, including the definition of an infinitive, the four types of tissue, and capital cities in New England.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 8, 2017

"I find it hard to specify when not to split an infinitive."

From The Guardian ● Aug. 15, 2014

But the to isn’t actually part of the infinitive and isn’t always necessary: Blackbeard helped him escape.

From "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner

English teachers were once satisfied if they could prevent their pupils from splitting infinitives.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 29, 2015

This happens at all magazines, of course; at Slate, we recently stopped capitalizing, in headlines, to in infinitives: “To Be or Not To Be” became “To Be or Not to Be.”

From Slate ● Apr. 8, 2015

In that language, infinitives were an unsplittable single word: to split is dilaminare.

From Time ● Aug. 1, 2014

QL: It would not worry me if Russians split infinitives.

From The Guardian ● May 11, 2013

The unsplit versions sound more elegant to me, though I can’t be sure that my ears haven’t been contaminated by a habit of cravenly unsplitting infinitives to avoid spitballs from the Gotcha!

From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker