ad infinitum
7
8.8
- idiom
- /æd ˌɪnfɪˈnɪtəm/
- Formal
:
ad infinitum
- You jump back from A to B ad infinitum, and it fails to address the question.
- so on, ad infinitum
When he died, they'll replace him with a video looping on ad infinitum.
- When he died, they'll replace him with a video looping on ad infinitum.
- Just, you know, you get the budget to to to keep, you know, you know, constant maintenance for, you know, ad infinitum.
Examples
-
The Organismus just went on dividing and dividing, ad infinitum.
Fiction book (1993) -
Leibniz is convinced that extended bodies, by their very nature, can be divided ad infinitum.
Academic text (1998) -
Several thousand words, in written format, to be referred back to again ad infinitum, is NOT actual communication?
Blog text (14) -
The answer to him repeated ad infinitum should have been: how do you know?
Blog text (28) -
I do think I prefer the system here of letting a priest stay ad infinitum.
Blog text (16) -
Here he had many years of training and could improvise ad infinitum.
Fiction book (1995) -
And the saga could continue from there, ad infinitum.
Fiction book (1991) -
The student can carry on ad infinitum requesting questions and responding to them within each lecture.
Academic text (2011) -
Reporting in Washington during the eighties has been written about and theorized about ad infinitum.
Academic text (1991) -
The conference discussions seemed to go on ad infinitum, with no resolution in sight.
Synonyms
104
4.8
For a time with no set end
73
2.3
Without stopping for a very long time
62
4.8
To a very great degree without any limit
53
5.2
For all time without end
20
7.7
Very much or for a very long time
16
7.8
A time that lasts forever
3
8.9
Continues for all future time
2
7.6
In a way that goes on for a very long time with no end in sight
1
5.3
For a very long time with no clear end
1
5.8
Without stopping for a long time
1
7.4
In a way that lasts forever
1
6.3
Without limits or end
1
5.6
In a way that has no end or limit
For a very long time that never ends
With no limits, very much or very freely
Antonyms
How Long
Surface Forms
Morphology
ad + infinitum
The phrase literally combines Latin 'ad' (to/toward) + 'infinitum' (infinity/endless), yielding 'to infinity' — directly matching the gloss 'endlessly'. Although it is a Latin loan used intact in English, the parts are compositional and cognate with English forms like 'infinite', so a learner who knows the constituents would readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
Ad infinitum comes from Latin. In Latin ad means 'to' and infinitum means 'the infinite', so the phrase gives the image of something that goes on and on and that is why it means 'endlessly' or 'without limit'.