Eternity Meaning
/ɪˈtɜːnɪti/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounExistence without end, infinite time.
nounExistence outside of time.
Sentence Examples
There will always be things I will never learn, I don't have eternity before me!
As if you could kill time without injuring eternity.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
Waiting in the long line felt like an ____ that would never end.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Waiting for the results of the biopsy felt like a painful ____ to the patient.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English eternyte, from Old French eternité, from Latin aeternitās. Displaced native Old English ēcnes.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Eternity has generally been considered as divisible into two parts; which have been termed, eternity a parte ante, and eternity a parte post: that is, in plain English, that eternity which is past, and that eternity which is to come."
— 1829, John Wesley, Sermons on Several Occasions, 10th edition, volume 2, Sermon LVIII: On the Eternity of God, page 1:
"This theory regards creation as an act of God in eternity past."
— 1886, Augustus Hopkins Strong, Systematic Theology: a Compendium and Commonplace-book Designed for the Use of Theological Students, page 190:
"Those who like not the company of the saints on earth will get none of it in eternity; but, as godless company is their delight now, they will afterwards get enough of it, when they have eternity to pass in the roaring and blaspheming society of devils and reprobates in hell."
— 2000, Thomas Boston, Human Nature in Its Fourfold State, page 247:
"We sometimes speak of eternity in contradistinction to time; and often say, "through time and into eternity;" and again "from eternity to eternity," which is simply another form of expressing the same idea, and "pass through time into eternity." in other words, time is a short period allotted to man in his probationary state—and we use the word time in contradistinction to the word eternity, merely for the accommodation of man in his finite sphere, that we may comprehend and learn to measure periods."
— 1879, Erastus Snow, “Rest Signifies Change, etc.”, in Brigham Young, editor, Journal of Discourses, volume 21, published 1881:
"Every niche was filled by a funeral urn, and by marble shapes that bent down in a pale eternity of sorrow."
— 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “The Marriage”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 220:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
Waiting in the long line felt like an ____ that would never end.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Waiting for the results of the biopsy felt like a painful ____ to the patient.