eternal
Syllables: e·ter·nalUK/ɪˈtɜː.nl̩//ɪˈtɝ.nl̩/
eternal adjective: lasting forever; unending.
Adjective
eternal (comparative more eternal, superlative most eternal)
- 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
- Thy smoking altar shall be fat with food / Of incense and the grateful steam of blood; / Burnt-offerings morn and evening shall be thine, / And fires eternal in thy temple shine.1700 [c. 1387–1400], John, transl. Dryden, “Palamon and Arcite”, in Fables, Ancient and Modern, translation of The Knight's Tale by Geoffrey Chaucer
- Synonyms:
- agelong, endless, everlasting, permanent, sempiternal, unending
- Existing outside time; as opposed to sempiternal, existing within time but everlastingly.
- Synonyms:
- timeless, atemporal, achronic, extratemporal
- 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
- Exceedingly great or bad; used as an intensifier.
- some eternal villain
- Synonyms:
- awful
Noun
eternal (plural eternals)
eternal meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
eternal in Hindi
- lasting forever
- सनातन sanātan, सदैव sadaiv, सर्वदा sarvadā, शाश्वत śāśvat, अनंत anant, जावेद jāved
eternal in Tamil
- நிலைபேறுடைய, நிலையான, முடிவற்ற, மன்னுதல்
eternal in Urdu
- eternal
- ہمیشہ hameśa, قدیم qadīm
- eternal, undying, everlasting, perpetual
- جاوید jāvēd
eternal in Bengali
- lasting forever
- অনন্ত onnto, অমর omor
More languagesFewer languages
- eternal in Telugu
- అక్షరము akṣaramu, అనాది anādi
- eternal in Malayalam
- നിത്യ nitya, സനാതന sanātana
- eternal in Kannada
- ನಿತ್ಯ, ಶಾಶ್ವತ, ಚಿರಂತನವಾದ, ಅನಂತ
- eternal in Punjabi
- ਸਦੀਵੀ, ਸਦੀਪਕ
- eternal in Odia
- ଅକ୍ଷର akṣara
- eternal in Sanskrit
- सनातन sanātana, सदैव sadaiva
- eternal in Nepali
- अनन्त
- eternal in Pashto
- ابدی abadí
- eternal in Arabic
- أَبَدِيّ ʔabadiyy
- eternal in Indonesian
- abadi, kekal, langgeng, tetap
- eternal in Persian
- جاوید jâvid, ابدی abadi
Examples of eternal in a sentence
- In Greek mythology, Tithonus was granted immortality but not eternal youth.
- A demiurge or craftsman god takes pre-existing matter and fashions it in light of the eternal Forms.
- The missionary was motivated by a sincere desire to rescue souls from eternal torment in the netherworld.
Synonyms of eternal
- agelong
- endless
- everlasting
- permanent
- sempiternal
- unending
- timeless
- atemporal
- achronic
- extratemporal
21 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
10 more antonymsFewer antonyms
Forms of eternal
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more eternal |
| superlative | most eternal |
| alternative form (obsolete) | æternal |
| alternative form (obsolete) | æternall |
| alternative form (obsolete) | eternall |
| Noun | |
| plural | eternals |
Origin of eternal
From Middle English eternal, from Old French eternal, from Late Latin aeternālis, from Latin aeternus (“eternal”), from aevum (“age”). Displaced native Old English ēċe.
Words formed from eternal
- coeternal
- crater of eternal darkness
- eternal black hole
- eternal care unit
- eternal flower
- eternalism
- eternalist
- eternality
- eternalize
- eternal life
- eternally
- eternal marriage
- eternalness
- eternal now
- eternal recurrence
- eternal rest
- eternal return
- Eternal September
- eternal sin
- eternal sleep
- eternal triangle
- hope springs eternal
- hope springs eternal in the human breast
- life eternal
- noneternal
- on eternal patrol
- peak of eternal light
- supereternal
- uneternal
Phrases with eternal
Words that rhyme with eternal
- kernel
- external
- internal
- colonel
- diurnal
- infernal
- journal
- fraternal
- paternal
- maternal
- hyosternal
- nocturnal
40 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- sempiternal
- supernal
- vernal
- anteroexternal
- anterointernal
- antesternal
- asternal
- chondrosternal
- coeternal
- coracosternal
- costosternal
- coxosternal
- dorsoexternal
- dorsointernal
- episternal
- hesternal
- hodiernal
- infrasternal
- intersternal
- latisternal
- mesosternal
- metasternal
- midsternal
- nonexternal
- noninternal
- parasternal
- peristernal
- posteroexternal
- posterointernal
- poststernal
- presternal
- retrosternal
- sternal
- substernal
- supersternal
- suprasternal
- ternal
- tracheosternal
- transsternal
- vertebrosternal
Questions about eternal
- What does eternal mean?
- Eternal means lasting forever; unending.
- What is eternal in Hindi?
- Eternal in Hindi is सनातन (sanātan), सदैव (sadaiv), सर्वदा (sarvadā). See Eternal meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is eternal?
- Eternal can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce eternal?
- Eternal is pronounced /ɪˈtɜː.nl̩/ (UK).
Words near eternal in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: eternal (page history and authors); eternal (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); جاوید (Urdu) (page history and authors); అక్షరము (Telugu) (page history and authors); നിത്യ (Malayalam) (page history and authors); eternal (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); eternal (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ଅକ୍ଷର (Odia) (page history and authors); eternal (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ابدی (Pashto) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-eternal.ogg.
Cite this entry: “eternal.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/eternal. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.