infinite

comparative more infinite · superlative most infinite

1. Indefinably large, countlessly great; immense.First known use 14th c.

   infinite riches in a little room

   c. 1589–1590 (date written), Christopher Marlo[we], edited by Tho[mas] Heywood, The Famous Tragedy of the Rich Iew of Malta. […], London: […] I[ohn] B[eale] for Nicholas Vavasour, […], published 1633, →OCLC, (please specify the page)

   3 more examples

   The number is so infinite, that verily it would be an easier matter for me to reckon up those that have feared the same.

   1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 40, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book I, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC

   Whatever is finite, as finite, will admit of no comparative relation with infinity; for whatever is less than infinite is still infinitely distant from infinity; and lower than infinite distance the lowest or least cannot sink.

   1735, Henry Brooke, Universal Beauty

   which infinite calamity shall cause to human life

   1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC

   Synonyms: immeasurable, inestimable, vast

2. Boundless, endless, without end or limits; innumerable.First known use 15th c.

   Great is our Lord, and of great power; his understanding is infinite.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 147:5

   Synonyms: amaranthine, boundless, endless, interminable, limitless, unbounded, unending, unlimited

3. Infinitely many.First known use 15th c.

   Huxley's theory says that if you provide infinite monkeys with infinite typewriters, some monkey somewhere will eventually create a masterpiece – a play by Shakespeare, a Platonic dialogue, or an economic treatise by Adam Smith.

   2012, Helen Donelan, Karen Kear, Magnus Ramage, Online Communication and Collaboration: A Reader

   Synonyms: countless, countless, innumerable, numberless, uncountable, uncounted, unnumberable, unnumbered

4. mathematicsGreater than any positive quantity or magnitude; limitless.First known use 17th c.
5. mathematicsHaving infinitely many elements.

   For any infinite set, there is a 1-1 correspondence between it and at least one of its proper subsets. For example, there is a 1-1 correspondence between the set of natural numbers and the set of squares of natural numbers, which is a proper subset of the set of natural numbers.

   2009, Brandon C. Look, “Symbolic Logic II, Lecture 2: Set Theory”, in www.uky.edu/~look, archived from the original on 19 Jun 2018

6. grammarNot limited by person or number.First known use 19th c.
7. entertainmentCapable of endless repetition; said of certain forms of the canon, also called perpetual fugues, constructed so that their ends lead to their beginnings.

1. Infinitely many.

plural infinites

1. Something that is infinite in nature.

   Cautiously, Hobbes avoided asserting the equality of these infinites, and explicitly characterized the relation between them as non-inequality.

   2004, Teun Koetsier, Luc Bergmans, Mathematics and the Divine: A Historical Study, page 449

   1 more example

   Sooner Earth / Might go round Heaven, and the strait girth of Time / Inswathe the fulness of Eternity, / Than language grasp the infinite of Love.

   1827–1879 (date written), Alfred Tennyson, “Part I”, in The Lover’s Tale, London: C[harles] Kegan Paul & Co., […], published 1879, →OCLC, pages 34–35

2. video gamesA combo that can be used repeatedly without interruption.

   […] prevents overpowered combos and infinites […]

   2007, Adam Deats, Joe Epstein, Virtua Fighter 5, page 14