immemorially
- adverb
- /ˌɪməˈmɔːriəli/
- Formal
:
inmemorialmente
- He is indeed on a mission, a sort of pilgrimage to sacred ground, where blood, of which the Civil War was a mere token, had been spilled immemorially for the preservation of a certain feeling about history, religion, and identity that Naipaul considers (and who would argue with him?) to be the essence of civilization.
Examples
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That compensation in some form must be given in such cases is immemorially old and widespread in the Near Eastern law codes.
Academic text (1991) -
In International Society for Krishna Consciousness v. Lee, the Supreme Court classified a traditional public forum as one that has "'immemorially ... time out of mind' been held in the public trust and used for purposes of expressive activity."
Blog text (8) -
I resisted the urge to dig into my storage closet to find the worn albums in which my parents had chronicled their lives and mine, to leaf through those black, stiff pages with immemorially familiar faces and places.
Fiction book (1997) -
While this may be the case where a government building and its immediate curtilage are involved, it is not necessarily so with respect to those "places which by long tradition or by government fiat have been devoted to assembly and debate, . . . particularly streets and parks which have immemorially been held in trust for the use of the public and, time out of mind, have been used for purposes of assembly, communicating thoughts between citizens, and discussing public questions." Perry Ed.
Academic text (1995) -
The ancient trees in the forest have stood immemorially, witnessing countless generations grow and change.
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This festival has been celebrated immemorially by the villagers, marking the arrival of spring each year.
-
In many cultures, the practice of storytelling has been passed down immemorially through generations.
Synonyms
5
7.7
Since a long time ago
Antonyms
How Long
Surface Forms
Morphology
immemorially = immemorial (semi-transparent) = im + memorial + ly
The adverb is formed regularly from 'immemorial' + '-ly', but 'immemorial' itself is formal/rare and its relation to 'memorial'/'memory' may not be obvious to learners.
Etymology
Immemorially has the start im- meaning 'not' and comes from the same root as memory, which means 'remembering'. So immemorially means 'since a time not remembered', or simply 'for as long as anyone can say'.