indefinitelyadv.
/ɪnˈdɛfɪnɪtli/ In an indefinite manner or degree.
1. Without definition or limitation to a particular thing, case, time, etc.; indeterminately, vaguely.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > kind or sort > generality > [adverb] > indefinitely
indefinitely1471
indeterminably1471
infinitely1530
grossly1537
indeterminately1571
neutrally1571
undeterminately1571
indefinitively1622
vaguely1781
1471 J. Fortescue Wks. (1869) I. 533 Our lorde sayde..indiffinytely or indetermynably that she [woman] shulde be vnder the power and lordshipp of man.
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement Introd. 32 Other thre dyvers tymes, imparfytly past, indiffynitly past, and more than parfytly past.
1561 T. Norton tr. J. Calvin Inst. Christian Relig. i. f. 37 So oft as we do indefinitely speake of the name of God, we meane no lesse the Sonn and the Holy ghost than the Father.
1635 J. Gore Way to Well-doing 3 A preacher..delivers his message indefinitely to the whole assembly.
1858 T. Carlyle Hist. Friedrich II of Prussia I. i. iv. 42 She had felt herself indefinitely unwell.
1863 J. W. Carlyle Lett. III. 168 They pressed me to come to them..and I promised indefinitely that I would.
2. To an indefinite amount or extent; without specified or assignable limit or end; unlimitedly.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > existence > state or condition > infiniteness > [adverb] > without definite limit or indefinitely
infinitelyc1430
full due1574
indefinitely1621
indefinitively1622
1621 R. Burton Anat. Melancholy ii. iii. iii. 408 'Tis a fortune which some indefinitly preferre before prosperity.
1664 H. Power Exper. Philos. Pref. sig. B3v Motion also may be indefinitely swift or slow.
1697 W. Dampier New Voy. around World v. 94 The Pacifick Sea..from 30 to about 4 degrees South Latitude, and from the American Shore Westward indefinitely.
1833 M. R. Mitford in A. G. L'Estrange Life M. R. Mitford (1870) III. i. 6 Life is too short..for an alienation indefinitely prolonged.
1868 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest II. App. 540 It would be easy to prolong the list indefinitely.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1900; most recently modified version published online June 2020).
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adv.1471