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eternal life

eternal life

46 7.4
Life that continues forever after death
  • noun
  • /ɪˈtɜrnəl laɪf/
translation icon : vida eterna
  • And having forgiven your sins, may he lead you to eternal life.
  • promise of eternal life
  • hope for eternal life
  • eternal life with God

That is also Jesus's promise of eternal life, because here there is no time.

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Examples

  • Believers in many religions hope to attain eternal life after death.

  • While my hope for a healthy existence wavered, my hope in God and his gift of eternal life remained steady.

    Fiction book (2002)
  • So that then you can have an active relationship with God and eternal life with him and escape hell.

  • I am born again to eternal life...

  • May God lead you into the eternal life.

  • And having eternal life gave me extra years with my loved ones.

  • We are part of the body of Christ, and in Christ we have eternal life.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • But the verse says the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

  • That is also Jesus's promise of eternal life, because here there is no time.

  • "Teacher," he said, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

    Academic text (2015)

Synonyms

eternity
vseternal life
224 5.8

Time that never ends, often imagined after death

is about continuing existence after death rather than the abstract idea of endless time
immortality
vseternal life
73 7.2

A life that never ends

is about existence after death rather than biological or mythic never dying
perpetuity
vseternal life
19 9.6

A situation that lasts forever

focuses on continuing existence after death rather than legal or formal endless duration
life eternal
vseternal life
  • Literature
1 7.9

An endless state of being after death

is the same meaning but presented in a different phrase order
timelessness
vseternal life
  • Literature
1 7.5

A state of not being limited by time, for example in the afterlife

is specifically continuing existence after death rather than general absence of time
timeless existence
vseternal life
  • Literature
9.3

A state with no beginning or end, like life after death

is framed as continuing existence after death rather than general absence of time
everlastingness
vseternal life
9.9

A state of lasting forever

is about continuing existence after death rather than the general quality of no end
eternality
vseternal life
8.4

Lasting forever without a beginning or end

is used for continuing existence after death rather than abstract absence of time
foreverness
vseternal life
8.3

A state of seeming to last or really lasting without an end

is about continuing existence after death rather than mere impression of endlessness
deathlessness
vseternal life
  • Literature
9.6

A state of never dying or being remembered forever

is about continuing existence after death rather than merely avoiding physical death or fame

Antonyms

1.0

The end of a living thing's life

Surface Forms

eternal life singular
eternal lives plural

Morphology

eternal + life

The meaning 'life that has no beginning or end' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'eternal' (without end) with 'life' (span of existence). This compositional interpretation is cross‑linguistically common in religious and philosophical contexts, so a B1 learner who knows both constituent words would readily understand the phrase.

Etymology

Eternal life comes from old religious ideas that life continues after death. People pictured eternal as 'forever' and life as living on after death, so the phrase now means 'life that lasts forever'.