sempiternal

American  

[sem-pi-tur-nl] / ˌsɛm pɪˈtɜr nl /

adjective

Literary.

1. everlasting; eternal.

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sempiternal British  

/ ˌsɛmpɪˈtɜːnɪtɪ, ˌsɛmpɪˈtɜːnəl /

adjective

1. literary everlasting; eternal

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Other Word Forms

• sempiternally adverb
• sempiternity noun

Etymology

Origin of sempiternal

1400–50; late Middle English < Late Latin sempiternālis, equivalent to Latin sempitern ( us ) everlasting semp ( er ) always + -i- -i- + -ternus suffix of temporal adjectives; eterne ) + -ālis -al ¹

Explanation

When something is sempiternal, it seems like it's been around forever, like the rise and fall of the tide on the beach, or your love of chocolate. Sempiternal is useful for describing something endless, especially when you want to use an impressive word. Although it's often used the same way you'd use the word eternal, in philosophy there is a distinction between those terms. Eternal implies something that is infinite outside the bounds of time, like God, while sempiternal is a more earthbound way to talk about "forever." It's a bit of a redundant word formed from the Latin words meaning "always" and "eternal."

Example Sentences

The sempiternal nurdles, indestructible, swayed on and under the surface of the sea.

From The Guardian • Mar. 15, 2013

That is the sempiternal issue with which Enid Rudd has made her playwriting debut in this wry, observant, warm and almost steadily amusing comedy.

From Time Magazine Archive

A fond, endearing portrait of Sir Max Beerbohm, whom the author met in Rapallo during the sixth decade of that sempiternal Edwardian's self-declared old age.

From Time Magazine Archive

Behrman found him doodling caricatures of Balfour, Oscar Wilde and Henry James as if he inhabited a kind of sempiternal Edwardia.

From Time Magazine Archive

At church, at the altar, there were vestments of gold and the climbing voices of a Mozart mass, tossing rings sempiternal.

From "Hunger of Memory" by Richard Rodriguez