infinitesimal
12
8.6
- adjective
- /ˌɪnfɪnɪˈtɛsɪməl/
:
infinitesimal
- Bathsheba raised her eyes and looked into his, and for an infinitesimal moment, she felt something change between them.
- almost infinitesimal
- so infinitesimal
Why would they put the only life so many infinitesimal layers away from where they exist?
- Why would they put the only life so many infinitesimal layers away from where they exist?
- A point is this is this, you know, this indivisible, you know, infinitesimal thing.
Examples
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About 20 years ago, a nuclear reactor at the experimental test facility at Lake Sherwin, Wisconsin was discovered to be leaking an infinitesimal amount of radioactive byproduct into the lake.
-
An ecosystem contained in one infinitesimal speck.
-
We're talking an infinitesimal distance between a healthy baby and a dead baby.
Fiction book (2001) -
If the amount or frequency decreased, the change was too infinitesimal for her to notice.
Fiction book (2002) -
Just an infinitesimal dose in the food supply, they said, just to prove its effectiveness in the field.
-
Those colors you can see are only an infinitesimal fraction of the energy spectrums that actually exist.
-
On any scale, from the infinitesimal to the celestial, turbulence whirls.
Fiction book (1991) -
Her mind was filled with that face. Memories jostled for prominence, fragmented into infinitesimal pieces.
Fiction book (1996) -
The scientist discovered an infinitesimal change in the temperature during the experiment.
-
In calculus, we often deal with infinitesimal values that are too small to measure directly.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
So small it can fit in your hand
121
3.9
Not important or serious
52
4.8
So small that only a microscope can see it
37
4.4
Very small in size or amount
31
5.6
Very small or unimportant and not worth worrying about
29
6.3
Too small to be useful
3
6.8
Too small or not important enough to matter
1
4.3
Very small and easy to miss
1
8.6
Too small or unimportant to matter
Extremely small and hard to see
So small that you can only see it with a microscope
Antonyms
Compounds
- Specialized
The part of math that studies how numbers or quantities change using limits, derivatives, and integrals
How Small
Surface Forms
Etymology
Infinitesimal comes from parts like in- ('not') and finite ('limited') and even reminds you of infinite ('without end'), while using a small-part idea like decimal. So to call something infinitesimal is to say it is an 'endlessly small' amount — extremely tiny and almost impossible to measure.