Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Time without beginning or end; infinite time.
  • noun The state or quality of being eternal.
  • noun The timeless state following death.
  • noun The afterlife; immortality.
  • noun A very long or seemingly endless time.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The condition or quality of being eternal.
  • noun The state of things in which the flow of time has ceased.
  • noun Existence outside of the relations of time.
  • noun The state or condition of existence preceding life, or subsequent to death.
  • noun Indefinite duration of time or vast extent of space; anything that seems endless; endless round: as, an eternity of suspense; the great desert with its eternity of sand.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Infinite duration, without beginning in the past or end in the future; also, duration without end in the future; endless time.
  • noun Condition which begins at death; immortality.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun uncountable Existence without end, infinite time.
  • noun uncountable, philosophy Existence outside of time.
  • noun countable A period of time which extends infinitely far into the future.
  • noun The remainder of time that elapses after death.
  • noun informal, hyperbolic A comparatively long time.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun time without end
  • noun a seemingly endless time interval (waiting)
  • noun a state of eternal existence believed in some religions to characterize the afterlife

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English eternite, from Old French, from Latin aeternitās, from aeternus, eternal; see eternal.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin aeternitas.

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Examples

  • We have been blinded by our own cleverness, blinded by false perceptions of those qualities that we term eternity and infinity.

    A Heritage of Stars Simak, Clifford D., 1904- 1977

  • With what sublime abandon does such a man let go his soul into the mystery of that silence which we call eternity!

    The Jessica Letters: An Editor's Romance Paul Elmer More 1900

  • We are all going post to what they call eternity, and may as well be above board while there's time.

    The Lock and Key Library Classic Mystery and Detective Stories: Modern English Egerton Castle 1889

  • I think some do not understand the gravity of the word "eternity".....they can't wrap their mind around that.

    msnbc.com: Top msnbc.com headlines 2012

  • Congress needs to take all the time in eternity to come up with meaningful health insurance reform.

    CNN Poll: Is Obama taking too long on Afghanistan decision? 2009

  • But if eternity is the ultimate reward, what is the payoff of doing acts of social justice without guarantee of success?

    We Feed People: On the Road Andrew Beckner 2009

  • Mass is the only point of union between the means and the Goal because it enables us to contemplate, under the humble appearance of the bread and the wine, the Body and Blood of Him Whom we adore in eternity .

    Pope Benedict XVI 2009

  • But if eternity is the ultimate reward, what is the payoff of doing acts of social justice without guarantee of success?

    Archive 2009-03-01 Andrew Beckner 2009

  • Mass is the only point of union between the means and the Goal because it enables us to contemplate, under the humble appearance of the bread and the wine, the Body and Blood of Him Whom we adore in eternity .

    Sacraments 2009

  • Mass is the only point of union between the means and the Goal because it enables us to contemplate, under the humble appearance of the bread and the wine, the Body and Blood of Him Whom we adore in eternity .

    Liturgy 2009

Comments

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  • "...I dimly guess what Time in mists confounds,

    Yet ever and anon a trumpet sounds

    From the hid battlements of Eternity.

    Those shaken mists a space unsettle,

    Then round the half-glimpsèd turrets, slowly wash again..."

    --

    December 30, 2006

  • Everyday, in itself, brings eternity.

    The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho

    July 27, 2009

  • A common adjectival use 'an eternity ring.'

    November 7, 2011