sempiternal

English

WOTD – 5 September 2008

Etymology

From Old French sempiternel, from Medieval Latin sempiternālis, from Latin sempiternus, a contraction of semperæternus, from semper (always) + æternus (eternal).

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˌsɛm.pɪˈtəː.nəl/
  • (General American) IPA(key): /ˌsɛm.pɪˈtɝ.nəl/
  • (US)
    (file)
  • Rhymes: -ɜː(r)nəl
  • Hyphenation: sem‧pi‧ter‧nal

Adjective

sempiternal (not comparable)

  1. Everlasting, eternal.
    • 1841, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Circles”, in Essays: First Series:
      The one thing which we seek with insatiable desire is [] to lose our sempiternal memory and to do something without knowing how or why; in short to draw a new circle.
    • 2008 August 2, Shivangi Singh, “A sneak-peek at ‘just friends’ of filmdom!”, in Zee News:
      [I]n filmdom, the sempiternal question continues: Can a male and female actor be just ‘good friends’?
  2. (philosophy) Everlasting, that is, having infinite temporal duration (as opposed to eternal: outside time and thus lacking temporal duration altogether).

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