Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
eternity [ih-tur-ni-tee] ExamplesWord Origin See more synonyms for eternity on Thesaurus.com noun, plural e·ter·ni·ties.
- infinite time; duration without beginning or end.
- eternal existence, especially as contrasted with mortal life: the eternity of God.
- Theology. the timeless state into which the soul passes at a person’s death.
- an endless or seemingly endless period of time: We had to wait an eternity for the check to arrive.
- eternities, the truths or realities of life and thought that are regarded as timeless or eternal.
Origin of eternity 1325–75; Middle English eternite Latin aeternitās. See eterne, -ity Related formsnon·e·ter·ni·ty, nounpre·e·ter·ni·ty, noun Related Words for eternity infinity, afterlife, age, immortality, future, infiniteness, endlessness, perpetuity, infinitude, ages, imperishability, aeon Examples from the Web for eternity Contemporary Examples of eternity
The Newsroom aired its final episode on Sunday, already an eternity ago in news-cycle terms.
A Few Great Men Too Many: Aaron Sorkin Doesn’t Think You Can Handle the Truth
Arthur Chu
December 21, 2014
He rests lavishly, depicted in a marble sarcophagus that stares up for eternity at the carved depictions of his life story.
Nina Strochlic
October 23, 2014
But this is also a parody of narcissism, just a little detour to eternity.
Excuse Me For Not Dying: Leonard Cohen at 80
David Yaffe
September 24, 2014
Finally, after an eternity—lasting maybe two seconds—I did what I usually do when faced with fear squatting in my stomach.
Spirit Tripping With Colombian Shamans
Chris Allbritton
August 24, 2014
A man like that wanted to project that image for eternity.
Adolf Hitler: Secret Billionaire
Nico Hines
June 27, 2014
Historical Examples of eternity
It is a happy man who has divined the leisure of eternity, so he feels it, like what you say, ‘in his bones.’
Harry Leon Wilson
She was blind and paralyzed, and on the extreme verge of eternity.
Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, No. 327
Various
He waited an eternity; in actual time it was exactly ten minutes.
Max Brand
We are not this story’s author, who fills time and eternity with his purpose.
United States Presidents’ Inaugural Speeches
Various
The Sabbath of eternity has shed its stillness along the street.
The New Adam and Eve (From “Mosses From An Old Manse”)
Nathaniel Hawthorne
British Dictionary definitions for eternity eternity noun plural -ties
- endless or infinite time
- the quality, state, or condition of being eternal
- (usually plural) any of the aspects of life and thought that are considered to be timeless, esp timeless and true
- theol the condition of timeless existence, believed by some to characterize the afterlife
- a seemingly endless period of timean eternity of waiting
Word Origin and History for eternity n.
late 14c., from Old French eternité (12c.), from Latin aeternitatem (nominative aeternitas), from aeternus (see eternal). In the Mercian hymns, Latin aeternum is glossed by Old English ecnisse.