sempiternal
Americanadjective
adjective
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
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.
The sempiternal nurdles, indestructible, swayed on and under the surface of the sea.
From The Guardian • Mar. 15, 2013
To Love is still another family comedy, the sempiternal soap opera of the theater.
From Time Magazine Archive
Brecht rather ingenuously indicts Galileo for not ushering in a sempiternal age of reason and for recanting before the agents of the Inquisition.
From Time Magazine Archive
Under "the Tree of Idleness" in the village square, the town greybeards sipped Turkish coffee and played a sempiternal game of cards.
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
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.
