Meanings
- not comparableFor a long time, with no defined end.
It was a dark, horsehairy place with a sort of abandon-hope atmosphere that seemed suitable for people that had no money, and who were going indefinitely into pawn.
1905, Lloyd Osbourne, Baby Bullet: the motor of destiny, page 1712 more examples
For it would surely improve the domestic standing of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, an unbudgeable hawk, and thereby indefinitely delay peace on that Middle Eastern front.
2009 October 1, “Answering Iran’s Nuclear Challenge”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 17 Jun 2022One argument is that "the virus has changed everything" and that people will work from home and travel much less, easing capacity pressures. But there is a counter argument whereby we may all discover that, longer-term, many jobs cannot after all be effectively carried out from home indefinitely.
2020 May 20, David Thrower, Ian Wray, “Revisiting the plan for developing the North's rail network”, in Rail, page 40 - not comparableForever.
Even assuming, however, that for economic reasons capitalism cannot last indefinitely, it would still not follow that it must be replaced by Marxian socialism.
1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume I: The Founders, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: powstanie (in Polish), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 374
Origin
Translations
Bulgarian неопределено, завинаги
- неопределено (neopredeleno)for a long time, no end defined
- завинаги (zavinagi)forever
Catalan indefinidament, indefinidament
- indefinidamentin a manner that is not definite
- indefinidamentfor a long time, no end defined
Dutch voor onbepaalde tijd, (voor) altijd
- voor onbepaalde tijdfor a long time, no end defined
- (voor) altijdforever
- voorgoedforever
- permanentforever
- eeuwigforever
Finnish toistaiseksi, ikuisesti
- toistaiseksifor a long time, no end defined
- ikuisestiforever
French indéfiniment, infiniment
- indéfinimentfor a long time, no end defined
- infinimentforever
German unbegrenzt
- unbegrenztfor a long time, no end defined
Hindi अनिश्चितकाल, अनंत
- अनिश्चितकाल (aniścitkāl)for a long time, no end defined
- अनंत (anant)forever
Hungarian bizonytalanul, határozatlanul
- bizonytalanulin a manner that is not definite
- határozatlanulin a manner that is not definite
- határozatlan/bizonytalan ideig/időrefor a long time, no end defined
- korlátlan ideig/időreforever
Italian indefinitamente
- indefinitamentefor a long time, no end defined
Japanese 無期限に, 永遠に
- 無期限に (mu-kigenn-ni)for a long time, no end defined
- 永遠に (eien-ni)forever
Polish bezterminowo, bezterminowo
- bezterminowofor a long time, no end defined
- bezterminowoforever
Portuguese indefinidamente
- indefinidamentefor a long time, no end defined
Russian неопределённо, бесконе́чно
- неопределённо (neopredeljónno)in a manner that is not definite
- бесконе́чно (beskonéčno)for a long time, no end defined
- ве́чно (véčno)for a long time, no end defined
- бесконе́чно (beskonéčno)forever
- ве́чно (véčno)forever
Spanish indefinidamente, indefinidamente
- indefinidamentefor a long time, no end defined
- indefinidamenteforever
Tagalog nang padituring
- nang padituringfor a long time, no end defined
Cite this entry
indefinitely. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/indefinitely
“indefinitely.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/indefinitely. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “indefinitely,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/indefinitely.
Source: indefinitely on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.