infinity
/ɪnˈfɪnɪti
/noun (plural infinities)
1 [mass noun] The state or quality of being infinite: the infinity of space...
- Scotus then asks us to shift from thinking about an actual quantitative infinity to thinking about an actual qualitative infinity.
- And please, for Valentine's sake, do not doubt my mathematics - my equation refers to the ‘right’ pair of people who fall in love to find that infinity of life.
- The stars and planets that merrily twinkle, light years away, have inspired song lyrics and poems, become pivotal symbols in religion and have provided an eternal need for man to explore the concept of infinity.
Synonyms
endlessness, infinitude, infiniteness, boundlessness, limitlessness, unlimitedness, extensiveness, vastness, immensity;
infinite distance
1.1 [count noun] An infinite or very great number or amount: an infinity of combinations...
- Australians are squeezed between two inhospitable infinities, one dry, the other wet.
- No such consolation is offered by Fiennes' vision of the featureless infinities of downtown LA.
- You'll see that this stretch of Nevada is pretty damn ugly: infinities, in every direction, of dry, brownish-gray earth that is too bland to be called dirt, too soiled to be called soil.
Synonyms
infinite number, unlimited number, very great number, abundance, profusion, host, multitude, mass, wealth
informal heap, stack, ton
British informal shedload
1.2A point in space or time that is or seems infinitely distant: the lawns stretched into infinity...
- The held tones become vitally important as the piece progresses and the primary motif slows to a crawl; with more space between the notes the connecting drone that stretches to infinity becomes the focus.
- Beyond the window, space stretched out to infinity, looking coldly back at them.
- No longer are they confined by the walls of a classroom; instead, the empty field stretches out to infinity, as the fog hides the horizon.
2 Mathematics A number greater than any assignable quantity or countable number (symbol ∞): the transmission approaches 100% as the frequency tends to infinity...
- Euler asserts that the sum of the harmonic series equals the natural logarithm of infinity plus a quantity that is nearly a constant.
- The statue had the infinity symbol on it and was white in color.
- As classically conceived, a real number can be thought of as an infinite decimal, a completed infinity.
Origin
Late Middle English: from Old French infinite or Latin infinitas, from infinitus (see infinite).