INFINITE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does infinite mean? 

• INFINITE (noun)
  The noun INFINITE has 1 sense:

1. the unlimited expanse in which everything is located

  Familiarity information: INFINITE used as a noun is very rare.

• INFINITE (adjective)
  The adjective INFINITE has 4 senses:

1. having no limits or boundaries in time or space or extent or magnitude

2. (of verbs) not having tense, person, or number (as a participle or gerund or infinitive)

3. too numerous to be counted

4. total and all-embracing

  Familiarity information: INFINITE used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• INFINITE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The unlimited expanse in which everything is located

Classified under:

Nouns with no superordinates

Synonyms:

infinite; space

Context example:

the boundless regions of the infinite

Hypernyms ("infinite" is a kind of...):

attribute (an abstraction belonging to or characteristic of an entity)

Meronyms (parts of "infinite"):

location (a point or extent in space)

aerospace (the atmosphere and outer space considered as a whole)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "infinite"):

absolute space (physical space independent of what occupies it)

phase space ((physics) an ideal space in which the coordinate dimensions represent the variables that are required to describe a system or substance)

mathematical space; topological space ((mathematics) any set of points that satisfy a set of postulates of some kind)

outer space; space (any location outside the Earth's atmosphere)

• INFINITE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Having no limits or boundaries in time or space or extent or magnitude

Context example:

infinite wealth

Similar:

boundless; limitless; unbounded (seemingly boundless in amount, number, degree, or especially extent)

dateless; endless; sempiternal (having no known beginning and presumably no end)

endless (infinitely great in number)

inexhaustible; unlimited (that cannot be entirely consumed or used up)

Also:

immortal (not subject to death)

Antonym:

finite (bounded or limited in magnitude or spatial or temporal extent)

Derivation:

infiniteness (the quality of being infinite; without bound or limit)

infinity (time without end)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(of verbs) not having tense, person, or number (as a participle or gerund or infinitive)

Synonyms:

infinite; non-finite; nonfinite

Context example:

infinite verb form

Domain category:

grammar (the branch of linguistics that deals with syntax and morphology (and sometimes also deals with semantics))

Antonym:

finite ((of verbs) relating to forms of the verb that are limited in time by a tense and (usually) show agreement with number and person)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Too numerous to be counted

Synonyms:

countless; infinite; innumerable; innumerous; multitudinous; myriad; numberless; uncounted; unnumberable; unnumbered; unnumerable

Context example:

myriad stars

Similar:

incalculable (not able to be computed or enumerated)

Derivation:

infiniteness (the quality of being infinite; without bound or limit)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Total and all-embracing

Context example:

God's infinite wisdom

Similar:

absolute (perfect or complete or pure)

Derivation:

infiniteness (the quality of being infinite; without bound or limit)

 Context examples 

With which, to my infinite surprise, he included us all in a comprehensive bow, and disappeared; his manner being extremely distant, and his face extremely pale.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

He wore a look of stern sadness and infinite pity.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

But on returning to the drawing-room, when her letter was finished, she saw, to her infinite surprise, there was reason to fear that her mother had been too ingenious for her.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

I quickly destroyed part of my sledge to construct oars, and by these means was enabled, with infinite fatigue, to move my ice raft in the direction of your ship.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

The third part was an unvarying quantity, but the first and second parts could be varied an infinite number of times.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

With that man in the field, one’s morning paper presented infinite possibilities.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“But he still lives,” she answered, infinite faith in her voice.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

"Oh, dear," thought Meg, "married life is very trying, and does need infinite patience as well as love, as Mother says."

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I have the infinite satisfaction of congratulating you on your brother's promotion.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

With infinite difficulty, for he was stubborn as a stone, I persuaded him to make an exchange in favour of a sober black satin and pearl-grey silk.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)