Meanings
comparative more interminable · superlative most interminable
- Existing or occurring without interruption or end; ceaseless, unending.
Life's interminable succession of stages.
1983 February 5, Joseph Van Ness, “Keeping It Alive”, in Gay Community News, volume 10, number 28, page 103 more examples
After supper Sir Pitt Crawley began to smoke his pipe; and when it became quite dark, he lighted the rushlight in the tin candlestick, and producing from an interminable pocket a huge mass of papers, began reading them, and putting them in order.
1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, “Crawley of Queen’s Crawley”, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC, page 61The sea-reach of the Thames stretched before us like the beginning of an interminable waterway.
1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 193It was now a beautiful, moonlit night. The air was crisp and invigorating. Behind them lay the interminable vista of the desert, dotted here and there with an occasional oasis.
1913 June–December, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Through the Valley of the Shadow”, in The Return of Tarzan, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, […], published March 1915, →OCLC, page 137
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Late Latininterminābilis
- Middle Frenchinterminable
- Middle Englishinterminable
- Englishinterminable
From Middle English interminable, from Middle French interminable and its etymon Late Latin interminābilis. By surface analysis, in- + terminable.
More words from Middle English, Middle French, Late Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian безкраен
- безкраен (bezkraen)existing or occurring without interruption or end
Catalan interminable
- interminableexisting or occurring without interruption or end
Esperanto nefiniĝebla
- nefiniĝeblaexisting or occurring without interruption or end
Finnish loputon, keskeytymätön
- loputonexisting or occurring without interruption or end
- keskeytymätönexisting or occurring without interruption or end
- loppumatonexisting or occurring without interruption or end
Japanese 止められない
- 止められない (yamerarenai)existing or occurring without interruption or end
Korean 끝없는
- 끝없는 (kkeudeomneun)existing or occurring without interruption or end
Portuguese interminável
- interminávelexisting or occurring without interruption or end
Romanian interminabil
- interminabilexisting or occurring without interruption or end
Russian бесконе́чный, беспредельный
- бесконе́чный (beskonéčnyj)existing or occurring without interruption or end
- беспредельный (bespredelʹnyj)existing or occurring without interruption or end
Spanish interminable
- interminableexisting or occurring without interruption or end
Ukrainian нескінченний, безмежний
- нескінченний (neskinčennyj)existing or occurring without interruption or end
- безмежний (bezmežnyj)existing or occurring without interruption or end
Cite this entry
interminable. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/interminable
“interminable.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/interminable. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “interminable,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/interminable.
Source: interminable on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.