Meanings
- uncountablehuman sciencesThe view that time resembles space and thus past and future events are in some sense coexistent.
Antonyms: presentism
- uncountablehuman sciencesThe view that matter is uncreated and has existed, and will exist, eternally.
The first of these is eternalism, which holds that matter, energy, and intelligence—the components of the universe—are uncreated, indestructible, eternal, and forever fixed.
1997, Dale C. Lecheminant, “Foreword”, in John A. Widtsoe, Rational Theology: As Taught by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, →ISBN, page vii1 more example
[The earth’s] history stretched indefinitely or even infinitely into past and future and involved no unique and unexplained events such as the Flood; indeed, earth history was “without vestige of a beginning, without prospect of an end.” […] Most significantly, the virtual eternalism of such theories was extended, often explicitly, to the history of mankind[…]. Mankind could thus be claimed as uncreated and therefore not subject to any of the traditional moral and social constraints.
1986, Martin J. S. Rudwick, “The Shape and Meaning of Earth History”, in David C. Lindberg, Ronald L. Numbers, editors, God and Nature: Historical Essays on the Encounter between Christianity and Science, →ISBN, page 307
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe view that time resembles space and thus past and future events are in some sense coexistent.
Origin
Translations
German Eternalismus
- Eternalismuseternalism
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
eternalism. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/eternalism
“eternalism.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/eternalism. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “eternalism,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/eternalism.
Source: eternalism on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.