Meanings
- not comparablepostpositionalsometimesThat is beyond memory; ancient.
The rocks had stood overlooking the valley since time immemorial.
4 more examples
We will ride this morning to what we call the grove of Daphne. It is a real laurel grove. Some of the trees must be immemorial, and deserve to have been sacred, if once they were not so.
1870, B[enjamin] Disraeli, chapter XIV, in Lothair. […], volume III, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, page 148...the fact of the immemorial taking of the toll, though it would be rightful in its origin if the spot was in a port, and wrongful if it was not in a port, did not of itself afford sufficient ground for inferring that the spot was an antient port, or that such special services were rendered, either by express stipulation in some lost grant, or by immemorial usage, as would support such a grant or custom.
1868, James Redfoord Bulwer, editor, The Law Reports. Court of Common Pleas., volume 3Now, I still think that for this box of matches to have escaped the wear of time for immemorial years was a strange, and for me, a most fortunate thing.
1895 May 29, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, chapter X, in The Time Machine: An Invention, London: William Heinemann, →OCLCWere it not that the fields are vast in extent, those proclaiming themselves part of State Farm’s, the scene might be immemorial.
2012, Theodore Dalrymple, The Wilder Shores of Marx: Journeys in a Vanishing World
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectivelong past; beyond the limits of memory or tradition or recorded history
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Frenchimmémorial
- Englishimmemorial
From French immémorial. By surface analysis, im- + memorial.
More words from French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian незапомнен, древен
- незапомнен (nezapomnen)that is beyond memory; ancient
- древен (dreven)that is beyond memory; ancient
Catalan immemorial
- immemorialthat is beyond memory; ancient
Esperanto nememorebla
- nememoreblathat is beyond memory; ancient
Finnish muinainen
- muinainenthat is beyond memory; ancient
French immémorial
- immémorialthat is beyond memory; ancient
Norwegian Bokmål uminnelig
- uminneligthat is beyond memory; ancient
Russian да́вний, незапамятный
- да́вний (dávnij)that is beyond memory; ancient
- незапамятный (nezapamjatnyj)that is beyond memory; ancient
- дре́вний (drévnij)that is beyond memory; ancient
- ста́рый (stáryj)that is beyond memory; ancient
Spanish inmemorial
- inmemorialthat is beyond memory; ancient
Swedish uråldrig, urminnes
- uråldrigthat is beyond memory; ancient
- urminnesthat is beyond memory; ancient
Vietnamese xa xưa, thượng cổ
- xa xưathat is beyond memory; ancient
- thượng cổthat is beyond memory; ancient
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with immemorial
Cite this entry
immemorial. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/immemorial
“immemorial.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/immemorial. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “immemorial,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/immemorial.
Source: immemorial on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.