Eternity - Definition, Meaning & Synonyms

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SKIP TO CONTENT eternity /ɪˈtʌrnɪɾi/ /ɛˈtʌnɪti/ IPA guide

Other forms: eternities

Eternity means "forever," like living for all eternity. Or it can mean something that seems like it will go on for forever, like waiting an eternity for your sister to get out of the bathroom.

Eternity means "time without end, or infinity," like people who promise to love one another for eternity — they aren't planning to ever split up. When you put the word an before eternity, you can use it to describe a very long — too long — period of time, so that you can use it to complain. For example, you might use the phrase "it felt like an eternity," after waiting twenty minutes to get an ice cream cone.

Definitions of eternity

noun time without end synonyms: infinity see moresee less types: alpha and omega the first and last; signifies God's eternity type of: time the continuum of experience in which events pass from the future through the present to the past
noun a seemingly endless time interval (waiting) see moresee less type of: interval, time interval a definite length of time marked off by two instants
noun a state of eternal existence believed in some religions to characterize the afterlife synonyms: timeless existence, timelessness see moresee less type of: being, beingness, existence the state or fact of existing

Pronunciation US /ɪˈtʌrnɪɾi/ UK /ɛˈtʌnɪti/ Cite this entry Style: MLA

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Copy citation DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘eternity'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors. Send us feedback Word Family

Vocabulary lists containing eternity

"To His Coy Mistress" by Andrew Marvell

"To His Coy Mistress" is an example of a carpe diem poem, a poem that encourages someone to live to the fullest because life is short. Here, the speaker encourages his beloved to give in to his romantic overtures. Read the poem here.

"Because I Could Not Stop for Death" by Emily Dickinson

The speaker of Dickinson’s poem imagines riding in a carriage with Death and viewing scenes out of the window. Read the text here.

Brown Girl Dreaming Jacqueline Woodson

In a series of autobiographical poems, Jacqueline Woodson vividly brings her childhood and adolescence to life. This memoir in verse won the National Book Award, the Coretta Scott King Award, and the Newbery Honor Award.

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