æternal

Adjective

eternal (comparative more eternal, superlative most eternal)

1. Lasting forever; unending.
   • But here again it is another question, quite different from our having an idea of eternity, to know whether there were any real being, whose duration has been eternal.1690, John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding

   Synonyms:

   agelong, endless, everlasting, permanent, sempiternal, unending

   Antonyms:

   ephemeral, momentary, transient, earthly, brief, deciduous, evanescent, fleeting, flying, fugacious

2. Existing outside time; as opposed to sempiternal, existing within time but everlastingly.

   Synonyms:

   timeless, atemporal, achronic, extratemporal

3. (excessive) Constant; perpetual; ceaseless; ever-present.
   • Beneath him you might have seen the three of us - myself, sunburnt, young, and vigorous after our open-air tramp; Summerlee, solemn but still critical, behind his eternal pipe; Lord John, as keen as a razor-edge, with his supple, alert figure leaning upon his rifle, and his eager eyes fixed eagerly...1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC
4. (dated) Exceedingly great or bad; used as an intensifier.
   • some eternal villain

   Synonyms:

   awful

See all 5 meanings of eternal