infinite
part of speech
adjective (infinite); noun (the infinite — formal)
meaning for a pupil
1) Infinite means without any end or limit; so big it can never be measured or counted. tree →
2) (informal) Infinite means extremely great: «infinite patience». tree →
3) (maths) An infinite set or line goes on for ever, like the counting numbers 1, 2, 3, …. tree →
sense in the lessons
In maths lessons pupils learn there are infinitely many numbers: you can always add 1. A line goes on infinitely in both directions; a line segment does not. In science, people wonder whether space is infinite. In everyday life it is used to exaggerate: «infinite homework». Symbol: ∞ (infinity). Phrases: «infinite number», «infinite patience».
examples
- There is an infinite number of counting numbers. tree →
- The teacher has infinite patience. tree →
- Is the universe infinite? tree →
- A line is infinite, but a line segment has two ends. tree →
- You can't count to infinity because numbers are infinite. tree →
- The sky looked infinite from the mountain top. tree →
- The choices in the game seemed infinite. tree →
- Still this band of young bards would have been of infinite interest to Fionn, not on account of what they had learned, but because of what they knew. tree →
note
Pronounced «IN-fin-it», not «in-FINE-ite» (even though «finite» is «FY-nite»). Opposite: finite. Noun: infinity; adverb: infinitely. Infinity is not a number you can reach; «infinity plus one» is still infinity. Some infinities are bigger than others, a surprising fact from maths.
In the corpora
- INFINITE COINS!!!» Leo's finger hovered.
- Ethiopia and Egypt were thy strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were thy helpers.
- Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «infinite» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.