Eternal

• POS: Adjective
• HYPHEN: e=ter=nal

CIDE DICTIONARY

Eternal, a. [F. éternel, L. aeternalis, fr. aeternus. See Etern.].

•  Without beginning or end of existence; always existing.  [1913 Webster]

  "The eternal God is thy refuge."  [1913 Webster]

  "To know wether there were any real being, whose duration has been eternal."  [1913 Webster]
•  Without end of existence or duration; everlasting; endless; immortal.  [1913 Webster]

  "That they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory."  [1913 Webster]
•  Continued without intermission; perpetual; ceaseless; constant.  [1913 Webster]

  "And fires eternal in thy temple shine."  [1913 Webster]
•  Existing at all times without change; immutable.  [1913 Webster]

  "Hobbes believed the eternal truths which he opposed."  [1913 Webster]

  "What are the eternal objects of poetry among all nations, and at all times?"  [1913 Webster]
•  Exceedingly great or bad; -- used as a strong intensive.  [1913 Webster]

The Eternal City, an appellation of Rome.

Syn. -- Everlasting; endless; infinite; ceaseless; perpetual; interminable. See Everlasting.

Eternal, n. 

•  One of the appellations of God.  [1913 Webster]

  "Law whereby the Eternal himself doth work."  [1913 Webster]
•  That which is endless and immortal.  Young.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Eternal, adj.
1 existing always; without an end or (usu.) beginning in time.
2 essentially unchanging (eternal truths).
3 colloq. constant; seeming not to cease (your eternal nagging).

Idiom

the Eternal God. Eternal City Rome. eternal triangle a complex of emotional relationships involving two people of one sex and one of the other sex.

Derivative

eternality n. eternalize v.tr. (also -ise). eternally adv. eternalness n. eternize v.tr. (also -ise).

Etymology

ME f. OF f. LL aeternalis f. L aeternus f. aevum age

THESAURUS

Eternal

ageless, all-comprehensive, all-inclusive, all-knowing, all-powerful, all-seeing, all-wise, almighty, boundless, ceaseless, changeless, coeternal, constant, continual, continuous, countless, creating, creative, dateless, deathless, endless, enduring, eternally the same, eterne, ever-being, ever-durable, ever-during, everlasting, everliving, exhaustless, extending everywhere, fixed, glorious, good, hallowed, highest, holy, illimitable, illimited, immeasurable, immemorial, immense, immortal, immutable, incalculable, incessant, incomprehensible, indestructible, inexhaustible, infinite, infinitely continuous, innumerable, interminable, interminate, invariable, just, lasting, limitless, loving, luminous, majestic, making, measureless, merciful, never-ceasing, never-ending, no end of, nonstop, nonterminating, nonterminous, numinous, olamic, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, one, perdurable, permanent, perpetual, persistent, radiant, recurrent, relentless, sacred, sempiternal, shaping, shoreless, sovereign, steady, sumless, supreme, termless, timeless, ubiquitous, unalterable, unbounded, unceasing, unchanged, unchanging, uncircumscribed, undefined, undiminished, undying, unending, unfaltering, unfathomable, unintermitting, uninterrupted, universal, unlimited, unmeasurable, unmeasured, unnumbered, unplumbed, unremitting, untold, unvarying, unwavering, without bound, without end, without limit, without measure, without number

ROGET THESAURUS

Eternal

Perpetuity

N perpetuity, eternity, everness, aye, sempiternity, immortality, athanasia, interminability, agelessness, everlastingness, perpetuation, continued existence, uninterrupted existence, perennity, permanence (durability), perpetual, eternal, everduring, everlasting, ever-living, ever- flowing, continual, sempiternal, coeternal, endless, unending, ceaseless, incessant, uninterrupted, indesinent, unceasing, endless, unending, interminable, having no end, unfading, evergreen, amaranthine, neverending, never-dying, never-fading, deathless, immortal, undying, imperishable, perpetually, always, ever, evermore, aye, for ever, for aye, till the end of the universe, forevermore, forever and a day, for ever and ever, in all ages, from age to age, without end, world without end, time without end, in secula seculorum, to the end of time, to the crack of doom, to the 'last syllable of recorded time', till doomsday, constantly, esto perpetuum, labitur et labetur in omne volubilis oevum, but thou shall flourish in immortal youth, Eternity! thou pleasing, dreadful thought, her immortal part with angels lives, ohne Rast ora e sempre.