Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The quality or condition of being infinite.
  • noun Unbounded space, time, or quantity.
  • noun An indefinitely large number or amount.
  • noun Mathematics The limit that a function ƒ is said to approach at x = a when ƒ(x) is larger than any preassigned number for all x sufficiently near a.
  • noun A range in relation to an optical system, such as a camera lens, representing distances great enough that light rays reflected from objects within the range may be regarded as parallel.
  • noun A distance setting, as on a camera, beyond which the entire field is in focus.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The condition of being infinite or the greatest possible; immeasurableness; innumerability; perfection: as, the infinity of God; infinity of duration.
  • noun Unlimited extension; figuratively, exhaustless quantity or number: as, inconceivable infinity; an infinity of details.
  • noun In geometry, the part of space at an infinite distance from the part chiefly considered.
  • noun An infinite number: as, an infinity of straight lines. Its symbol is ∞.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Unlimited extent of time, space, or quantity; eternity; boundlessness; immensity.
  • noun Unlimited capacity, energy, excellence, or knowledge.
  • noun Endless or indefinite number; great multitude; as an infinity of beauties.
  • noun (Math.) A quantity greater than any assignable quantity of the same kind.
  • noun (Geom.) That part of a line, or of a plane, or of space, which is infinitely distant. In modern geometry, parallel lines or planes are sometimes treated as lines or planes meeting at infinity.
  • noun an imaginary circle at infinity, through which, in geometry of three dimensions, every sphere is imagined to pass.
  • noun See under Circular.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Limitlessness, unlimitedness, something which is growing without limits or bounds.
  • noun A number that has an infinite numerical value that cannot be counted.
  • noun A number which is very large compared to some characteristic number. For example, in optics, an object which is much further away than the focal length of a lens is said to be "at infinity", as the distance of the image from the lens varies very little as the distance increases further.
  • noun The symbol .

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun time without end

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin infinitas ("unlimitedness"), from negative prefix in- ("not"), + finis ("end"), + noun of state suffix -tas.

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Examples

  • So what I’m wondering is, does this mean that from the point of view of Schwarzschild coordinates, the object is behaving like a white hole from Schwarzschild time - infinity to 0, and then behaving like a black hole from Schwarzschild time 0 to +infinity?

    Arrow of Time FAQ Sean 2007

  • Like the concepts of quantity, limit, boundary, the term infinity applies primarily to space and time, but not exclusively, as

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 8: Infamy-Lapparent 1840-1916 1913

  • While Dad hid in the back of the house all night, I laid awake on the living room couch next to the hospital bed, like summers when I was a kid and used to float on my back in the pool, trying to make sense of stars, and the uneasy feeling I got from the word infinity.

    Swimming Lessons Michael Smith 2012

  • Now, with Bernie Madoff, what happened was what you call infinity scam.

    CNN Transcript Mar 17, 2009 2009

  • In mathematics there is what we called infinity and "Design = Infinity".

    Efímera juanjoseixas 2010

  • In mathematics there is what we called infinity and "Design = Infinity".

    Efímera juanjoseixas 2010

  • The idea of summing all costs from here to infinity is preposterous, because we simply cannot know what the future will bring.

    The Volokh Conspiracy » Would the Public Support “Cap and Refund”? 2010

  • Its limit as time approaches infinity is sclerotic Brezhnevism.

    Mencius Moldbug Has Hijacked My Brain « Isegoria 2008

  • All the different stories and opinions gathered together here glance off of one another like a hall of mirrors, but the figure reflected into infinity is that of the woman who continues to define herself more through her relationships than through her work.

    2008 November « Tales from the Reading Room 2008

  • All the different stories and opinions gathered together here glance off of one another like a hall of mirrors, but the figure reflected into infinity is that of the woman who continues to define herself more through her relationships than through her work.

    Love, Life, Art « Tales from the Reading Room 2008

Comments

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  • See: Poetrie: Infinity

    March 13, 2007

  • You're Infinity's

    Local Representative.

    Doesn't that feel great?

    --Stu Charno

    December 13, 2007

  • the brink of existence.

    November 21, 2010

  • "...an imaginary nodal circle.."

    January 26, 2013

  • ...omega cone's skin...

    January 26, 2013