sempiternal

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But he did not really believe that infinity was infinite or that the eternal was also sempiternal: he assumed that all things, known and unknown, were caused Hence it was that I found myself one day towards the end of the eighteen-seventies in a cell in the old Brompton Oratory arguing with Father Addis, who had been called by one of his flock to attempt my conversion to Roman Catholicism.

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Definitions (4)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. adjective Enduring forever; eternal. See Synonyms at infinite.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (1)

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Examples (50)

  • Manu National Park is well known as "hotspot" in the lowland rainforests, a place of exuberant diversity; however the biosphere reserve also preserves vast areas of montane cloud forests, where the sempiternal mists envelop and often conceal plants and animals. —  innovations-report
  • VOICEsVOICEs create a sempiternal space filled with sounds and imagery that defy what they've been taught, and challenge what you know. —  Filter Magazine
  • It isn't the facts that matter, 9: 30 PM is still 9: 30 PM, but the sempiternal "truth" being crafted is a narrative of just enough veracity, length, and diversion to distract the parent-types from implementing the consequences. —  Desert Beacon
  • But he did not really believe that infinity was infinite or that the eternal was also sempiternal: he assumed that all things, known and unknown, were caused Hence it was that I found myself one day towards the end of the eighteen-seventies in a cell in the old Brompton Oratory arguing with Father Addis, who had been called by one of his flock to attempt my conversion to Roman Catholicism. —  Back to Methuselah
  • If these things are not sempiternal, then are we merely to patch the fabric as it gives way, or are we going to set about rebuilding-- piecemeal, of course, and without closing the premises or stopping the business, but, nevertheless, on some clear and comprehensive plan? —  Mankind in the Making
 

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Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, from Old French sempiternel, from Late Latin sempiternālis, from Latin sempiternus : semper, always; see sem-1 in Indo-European roots + aeternus, eternal; see aiw- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Middle English sempiternal, from Old French (and F.) sempiternel, from Middle Latin sempiternalis (in adverb sempiternaliter); as sempitern + -al.
 

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/sɛmpɪˈtərnəl/
by American Heritage

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