eternaladj.n.
/iːˈtəːnəl/ A. adj.
1.
a. Infinite in past and future duration; without beginning or end; that always has existed and always will exist: esp. of the Divine Being.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > duration > eternity or infinite duration > [adjective] > in past and future duration or transcending time
everlasting1340
eternec1366
eternal1488
eterminablea1528
timeless1574
supertemporal1837
morrowless1844
dayless1848
supratemporal1860
a-temporal1862
dateless1894
transhistorical1909
the world > the supernatural > deity > Christian God > nature or attributes of God > [adjective] > everlasting or immortal
immortalc1374
finitea1400
infinite1413
eternal1488
1488 (c1478) Hary Actis & Deidis Schir William Wallace (Adv.) (1968–9) ii. l. 180 Eternaile god, quhy suld I thus-wayis de.
c1524 William of Malvern Found. Abbey of Glocester in Robert of Gloucester Chron. (1724) 584 The Eternall King..shall reward everychone, Which..this wretched world doth despise.
1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection i. sig. Aiiiiv We shal se the father of heuen, and..his eternall sonne our lorde Jesu christ.
1611 Bible (King James) Deut. xxxiii. 27 The eternall God is thy refuge, and vnderneath are the euerlasting armes. View more context for this quotation
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost i. 25 That to the highth of this great Argument I may assert th' Eternal Providence. View more context for this quotation
a1729 S. Clarke Serm. (1730) I. iv. 81 The eternal, supreme Cause..has..a perfect.. comprehension of all things.
1790 H. Blair Serm. III. xix. 392 The ancient philosophers..maintained the eternal existence of matter.
1847 R. W. Emerson Goethe in Wks. (1906) I. 392 The old Eternal Genius who built the world.
b. By those who hold that time, i.e. the relation of succession, pertains merely to things as viewed by finite intelligence, and not to absolute reality, the word as used of God or His actions is interpreted in the sense: Not conditioned by time; not subject to time relations.Phrases in which the word has properly this sense are, however, often used in religious language without any definite recognition of the metaphysical theory which they imply, being taken as figurative expressions of the divine omniscience.
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1651 T. Hobbes Leviathan 20 Names that signifie nothing..as..eternal—Now, and the like canting of Schoolemen.
1793 T. Taylor in tr. Sallust On the Gods xiii. 64 (note) The eternal (τὸ αἰώνιον) says Olympiodorus, is a total now, exempt from the past and future circulations of time, and totally subsisting in a present abiding now; but the perpetual (τὸ ἀίδιον) subsists indeed always, but is beheld in the three parts of time, past, present, and future.
a1834 Coleridge This eternal (i.e. timeless) act [the sacrifice of Christ] He manifested in time.
1875 B. Jowett tr. Plato Dialogues (ed. 2) III. 620 The past and future are created species of time, which we unconsciously but wrongly transfer to the eternal essence; for we say indeed that he was, he is, he will be, but the truth is that ‘he is’ alone truly expresses him.
2. Infinite in past duration; that has always existed.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > duration > eternity or infinite duration > [adjective] > before the eternal or infinite in past duration
fore-eternal1587
fore-everlasting1587
eternal1690
pretemporal1798
1690 J. Locke Ess. Humane Understanding iv. x. 315 If we suppose bare Matter, without Motion, eternal, Motion can never begin to be.
1707 tr. P. Le Lorrain de Vallemont Curiosities in Husbandry & Gardening 245 Asserting the World to be Eternal, in Contradiction to the express Texts of the Holy Scripture.
3.
a. Infinite in future duration; that always will exist; everlasting, endless.The New Testament expressions eternal life, death, punishment, etc. are here referred to sense A. 3, this being the sense in which the adjective in such contexts is ordinarily taken. Other meanings have, however, been assigned to it: some theologians interpret it in the etymological sense, which is also that of Greek αἰώνιος, ‘lasting for an age or ages’; others regard the adjective as expressive of a notion of quality in the conditions which it designates, either in addition to, or instead of, the notion of endless duration (cf. A. 1b).
1853 F. D. Maurice Theol. Ess. (ed. 2) 451 Knowledge constitutes Eternal Life, and..the loss of it is Eternal Death.
1882 F. W. Farrar Early Days Christianity II. 366 The word eternal, far from being a mere equivalent for ‘everlasting’, never means ‘everlasting’ at all, except by reflexion from the substantives to which it is joined.
1885 T. C. Finlayson Biol. Relig. 87 A human soul might be immortal..and yet might never have what is distinctively called ‘eternal life’—the true spiritual life of fellowship with God.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > duration > eternity or infinite duration > [adjective]
echec825
echelichc825
endlessc888
lastinga1225
everlastingc1225
perdurablec1275
perpetuala1325
unendeda1325
incorruptiblea1340
ay-lastingc1340
inlastingc1340
eternec1366
interminablec1374
unstanchablec1374
ever-duringa1382
eternalc1386
sempitern1390
never-failinga1400
sempiternal14..
ever-being?a1425
ever-durable?a1425
immarcescible?a1475
perennal?c1500
deathless1547
everlastable1548
incessant1557
unperishing1561
undeterminable1581
evera1586
unendlya1586
inexterminable1592
never-ending?1592
aeviternal1596
dateless1597
undecaying1599
entombless1601
perishless1605
ageless1609
continual1610
perpetuous1612
imperible1614
ne'er-endinga1616
out-date1623
undated1624
perennious1628
immortal1630
imperishable1648
birthless1651
fadeless1652
sempiternous1653
evergreen1655
intemporal1656
indefectible1659
inconclusible1660
unending1661
aeonian1664
unfading1665
sempervirent1668
amaranthal1674
ne'er-dying1693
perennial1717
timeless1742
indefeatablea1754
amaranthine1782
aeonial1800
unterminating1821
unevanescent1827
ay1845
forever1879
sempervirid1909
c1386 G. Chaucer Second Nun's Tale 34 Thy maydens deeth, that wan thurgh hire merite The eterneel lyf.
1526 Bible (Tyndale) 2 Cor. iv. 18 For thinges which are sene, are temporall: but thynges whiche are not sene, are eternall.
1552 Abp. J. Hamilton Catech. Pref. All leuand in ane hoip of the eternal glore.
1579 E. Spenser Shepheardes Cal. Dec. 90 The power of herbs..which be wont to work eternall sleep.
1660 Bp. J. Taylor Worthy Communicant i. iv. 74 Christ was..admitted to the celestial and eternall priesthood in heaven.
1752 D. Hume Polit. Disc. x. 155 There is very little ground..to conclude the universe eternal or incorruptible.
1827 R. Pollok Course of Time II. x. 235 To the evil..Eternal recompence of shame and wo.
1834 J. H. Newman Parochial Serm. (1839) I. ii. 18 Judgment upon the eternal soul.
1852 H. B. Stowe Uncle Tom's Cabin II. xl. 267 An eternal, inexorable lapse of moments is ever hurrying the day of the evil to an eternal night, and the night of the just to an eternal day.
b. transferred. Pertaining to eternal things; having eternal consequences.
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1604 W. Shakespeare Hamlet i. v. 21 This eternall blazon must not be To eares of flesh and blood. View more context for this quotation
1729 W. Law Serious Call iii. 44 He has liv'd, without any reflection..in things of such eternal moment.
4.
a. rhetorically. Said of things to which endless continuance is ascribed hyperbolically or in relative sense. Eternal City (Latin urbs æterna): a designation of Rome, occurring in Ovid and Tibullus, and frequent in the official documents of the Empire.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > duration > [adjective] > long-lasting or enduring
longeOE
longsomeeOE
long of lifeOE
lastinga1225
cleaving1340
continualc1340
dwellingc1380
long-livinga1382
everlastingc1384
long-duringa1387
long-lasting?a1400
long-liveda1400
broadc1400
permanable?c1422
perseverant?a1425
permanentc1425
perdurable?a1439
continuedc1440
abiding1448
unremoved1455
eternalc1460
long-continued1464
continuing1526
long-enduring1527
enduring1532
immortal1538
diuturn?1541
veterated1547
resiant?1567
stayinga1568
well-wearinga1568
substantive1575
pertinacious1578
extant1581
ceaseless1590
marble1596
of length1597
longeval1598
diuturnal1599
nine-lived1600
chronic1601
unexhausted1602
chronical1604
endurable1607
continuant1610
indeflourishing1610
aged1611
indurant1611
continuatea1616
perennious1628
seculara1631
undiscontinueda1631
continuated1632
untransitory1632
long-spun1633
momently1641
stative1643
outliving1645
constant1653
long-descended1660
voluminousa1661
perduring1664
perdurant1671
livelong1673
perennial1676
longeve1678
consequential1681
unquenched1703
lifelong1746
momentary1755
inveterate1780
stabile1797
persistent1826
unpassing1831
all-time1846
year-long1846
teak-built1847
lengthful1855
long-term1867
long haul1873
sticky1879
week-to-week1879
perenduring1883
long-range1885
longish1889
long-time1902
long run1904
long-life1915
c1460 J. Fortescue Governance of Eng. (1714) 84 Their Renowne wol be eternal.
1555 R. Eden in tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde Pref. sig. ajv An eternal testimonie of absolute glory.
1609 P. Holland tr. Ammianus Marcellinus Rom. Hist. xxii. ix. 202 A certain region or quarter of that eternall citie [L. urbis aeternae] Rome.
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Pastorals x, in tr. Virgil Wks. 47 To..climb the frozen Alps, and tread th' eternal Snow.
1789 ‘P. Pindar’ Subj. for Painters 60 O nymph, th' eternal tear shall flow; The sigh unceasing breathe of thee.
1792 E. Burke Consideration Present State Affairs in Wks. (1826) VII. 106 These accounts..tend to make an eternal rupture between the powers.
1793 Acct. Trial T. Muir for Sedition 33 The Lord Advocate..declared that his imprisonment would be eternal.
1823 C. Lamb Valentine's Day in Elia 129 Delightful eternal common-places, which ‘having been will always be’.
1844 tr. M. T. Asmar Mem. Babylonian Princess II. 301 Hours..passed in the bosom of the eternal mountains.
1849 A. Alison Hist. Europe from French Revol. (new ed.) IX. lvii. 5 Stupendous mountains, whose summits..wrapped in eternal snow, almost overhang the lake.
1869 ‘M. Twain’ Innocents Abroad xxvii. 288 Michael Angelo..designed the Eternal City.
1876 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest V. xxiv. 390 At no moment..has the Parliament..ever given up its eternal right to regulate the royal succession at its will.
1887 R. L. Stevenson Underwoods i. xxxv. 69 Eternal granite hewn from the living isle.
b. Familiarly, implying weariness or disgust: That seems to be going on for ever; perpetual, incessant, always recurring.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > suffering > feeling of weariness or tedium > [adjective] > wearisome or tedious > tediously long
elengec897
longOE
longsomea1400
infinite1585
long-winded1645
mortal1758
everlasting1761
longful1777
eternal1787
1787 T. Jefferson Writings (1859) II. 164 My answers to the eternal applications I receive.
1825 W. Cobbett Rural Rides in Cobbett's Weekly Polit. Reg. 5 Nov. 352 Respecting whose proceedings we read eternal columns in the broad-sheet.
1843 W. M. Thackeray Ravenswing i, in Fraser's Mag. Apr. 465/2 Mrs. C. was sipping her eternal tea.
1884 H. Dunckley in Manch. Examiner 26 May 6/2 Perhaps more serious reading would then dethrone the eternal novel.
c. Having an ‘eternal’ resolve.Apparently an isolated use.
ΚΠ
1609 W. Shakespeare Troilus & Cressida v. ii. 169 Neuer did young man fancy With so eternall and so fixt a soule. View more context for this quotation
d. eternal triangle: see triangle n. 1c.
5. Of truths, principles, divine or natural laws, etc.: Valid through all eternity, immutable, unalterable. Esp. in eternal truths or verities, necessary truths, as being valid at all times.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > change > absence of change, changelessness > [adjective] > unchangeable
unchangeablea1340
immovablec1374
unmovablec1384
immutable1412
unvariablec1425
indeclinable1432
unmutable?a1439
incommutablec1450
irrevocable1490
impermutable1528
irrecoverable1540
inalterable?1541
unreformable1549
inchangeable1583
beyond (also past, without) recall1597
incontrollable1605
invariable1607
unalterable1611
unrecallable1611
untransmutable1611
unreversable1616
involublea1618
irreversible1629
irreducible1633
inconvertible1646
eternal1685
intransmutable1691
unconvertible1700
unvoidable1725
unmodifiable1798
irreformable1812
irrevertible1822
irredeemable1839
true1845
influxible1871
irrevisable1884
intransformable1887
1593 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie i. ii. 51 The law wherby he [sc. God] worketh, is eternall, and therefore can haue no shew or cullor of mutabilitie.]
1685 J. Dryden Sylvæ Pref. sig. a1 I believe he differs from our Hobbs, who cou'd not but be convinc'd, or at least doubt of some eternal Truths which he has oppos'd.
a1688 R. Cudworth (1731) (title) A treatise concerning eternal and immutable morality.
1690 J. Locke Ess. Humane Understanding iv. xi. 323 Propositions..that are once true, must needs be eternal Verities.
1694 J. Locke Ess. Humane Understanding (new ed.) iv. xi. 366 Propositions are therefore call'd Eternal Truths, not because they are Eternal Propositions actually formed... But because being once made..they will, whenever they can be supposed to be made again at any time..alway actually be true.
1791 E. Burke Let. to Member National Assembly in Wks. (1823) VI. 64 It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men [etc.].
1847 R. W. Emerson Napoleon in Wks. (1906) I. 381 It was the nature of things, the eternal law of man..which baulked and ruined him.
1855 G. Brimley Ess. (1858) i. 84 To exhibit some of the eternal elements of tragedy still in operation among us.
1883 F. H. Bradley Princ. Logic II. ii. i. 289 No vehicle conveys the eternal verities half so well as does the labyrinth of a fantastic genealogy.
1900 B. Russell Crit. Expos. Philos. Leibniz ii. 18 The eternal truths, he says, are all hypothetical.
1960 K. Amis Take Girl like You xxvi. 301 ‘Do you think it's right to give up your principles for somebody you're in love with?’ ‘I say, we are getting down to the eternal verities, aren't we?’
6. eternal flower n. a name for the Xeranthemum; also called ‘everlasting’.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular cultivated or ornamental plants > particular flower or plant esteemed for flower > [noun] > composite flowers > everlasting or immortelle
yellow amaranth1551
gold-flower1578
mothwort1578
God's flower1597
golden cudweed1597
golden mothwort1597
moth-weed1597
aurelia1598
everlasting flower1610
everlasting1633
helichrysum1664
yellowheads1712
immortal herb1731
xeranthemum1736
eternal flower1785
immortelle1832
strawflower1924
1785 T. Martyn tr. J.-J. Rousseau Lett. Elements Bot. xxvi. 390 Eternal flower has an imbricate calyx, with the inner scales membranaceous.
7. ‘Used to express extreme abhorrence’ (Schmidt). Now nonstandard or dialect.
ΚΠ
a1616 W. Shakespeare Julius Caesar (1623) i. ii. 161 There was a Brutus once, that would haue brook'd Th' eternall Diuell to keepe his State in Rome. View more context for this quotation
a1616 W. Shakespeare Othello (1622) iv. ii. 134 I will be hang'd, if some eternall villaine,..Haue not deuisde this slander. View more context for this quotation
a1825 R. Forby Vocab. E. Anglia (1830) Eternal, infernal, damned..‘Oh, he is an eternal rogue’!
8. quasi-adv.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > duration > eternity or infinite duration > [adverb]
always fortha700
alwayeOE
oeOE
everOE
buten endea1000
echelichec1175
till doomsdayc1175
to timea1200
perdurablyc1275
in ayea1300
without endc1330
anytimea1375
for ay and oc1374
continually1382
perpetuallyc1385
ay-forthc1390
everlastinglyc1390
perpetualc1392
eternallyc1393
endlessa1400
in (also for, to) perpetuitya1400
always?c1425
without timec1425
endlesslya1450
sempiternlyc1450
infinitivec1470
aylastinglyc1475
everlastingc1475
incessantly1481
in saecula saeculorum1481
sempiternally1509
all days1533
for altogether1542
constantly1567
interminate?1567
incorruptibly1579
perpetuously1612
in perpetuum1613
eternal1614
unterminably1631
unfadinglya1672
unendingly1674
for a constancy1710
perennially1729
tarnally1790
imperishably1795
indefectibly1837
immortally1858
fadelessly1861
1614 S. Rowlands Fooles Bolt soone Shott 36 Such sable colours should be worne, for them that do eternall mourne.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Winter's Tale (1623) i. ii. 66 We were..Two Lads, that thought there was no more behind, But..to be Boy eternall . View more context for this quotation
1671 J. Milton Paradise Regain'd iv. 388 What Kingdom, Real or Allegoric I discern not, Nor when, eternal sure, as without end, Without beginning. View more context for this quotation
B. n.† 2. = eternity n. Chiefly in phrase from eternal = Latin ab æterno. Obsolete.
1. the Eternal: God, the Deity. Cf. French l'Eternel (transf. Hebrew yhwh Jehovah n.).
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > deity > Christian God > [noun] > as everlasting
everlastinga1382
the Eternal1582
ever-living1601
the Eterne1613
the Interminable1671
ever-present1838
timeless1892
1582 T. North tr. A. de Guevara Diall Princes 189 The eternall [1557 eternal creator] created this world in short space.
1593 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie i. i. 49 The lawe whereby the Eternall himselfe doth worke.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Two Gentlemen of Verona (1623) v. iv. 81 By Penitence th' Eternalls wrath's appeas'd. View more context for this quotation
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost ii. 46 His trust was with th' Eternal to be deem'd Equal in strength. View more context for this quotation
1724 T. Richers tr. Hist. Royal Geneal. Spain 200 Having been summon'd to appear before the Tribunal of the Eternal.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > duration > eternity or infinite duration > [noun]
echenessc825
everlastingnessa1425
eternity1587
aeviternity1596
eternness1606
eternal1622
aeon1647
aevum1660
forever1741
Ewigkeit1877
1622 S. Ward Life of Faith in Death 29 I was from eternall a sheepe destined to the slaughter.
1633 W. Struther True Happines 65 Albeit we be in God from eternall.
1745 E. Young Complaint: Night the Eighth 3 Eternal is at hand, To swallow Time's Ambitions.
3. plural. Eternal things.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > duration > eternity or infinite duration > [noun] > eternal thing(s) or truth(s)
eternals1649
timeless1825
the eternities1843
imperishable1849
1649 F. Roberts Clavis Bibliorum (ed. 2) 391 These temporals, spirituals, and eternals..must be prudently distinguished.
1652 J. Gaule Πυς-μαντια 154 Angells..administring not only in temporalls, and in spiritualls, but likewise to eternalls.
1742 E. Young Complaint: Night the Second 23 All God-like Passion for Eternals quencht; All relish of Realities expir'd.
1840 T. De Quincey On Essenes in Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Jan. 111/2 A body of men so truly spiritual in the eternals of their creed, whatever might be the temporals of their practice.
1885 J. Martineau Types Ethical Theory I. 6 A certain stock of eternals transmigrates through various forms.
Draft additions June 2014
eternal inflation n. Astronomy (also eternal chaotic inflation) exponential inflationary expansion thought of as continuing for ever in at least some parts of the universe or (in theories of a multiverse) in at least some universes; see inflationary adj. Additions 2.
ΚΠ
1986 A. Linde in Mod. Physics Lett. A 1 81 (title) Eternal chaotic inflation.
1990 Physics Lett. B 241 495/1 This nontrivial twist in conforming the quantum cosmology with the possible properties of the universe today appeared here due to the power of eternal inflation.
2010 J. Gribbin In Search of Multiverse (new ed.) v. 135 Eternal inflation only really began to be taken seriously in the early years of the twenty-first century, after the discovery of evidence for dark energy and the acceleration of the expansion of the Universe.
2012 New Scientist 14 Jan. 6/2 Crucially, some versions of eternal inflation applied to time as well as space, with the bubbles forming both backwards and forwards in time.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1891; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adj.n.c1386