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Eternal vs Terminal - What's the difference?

eternal | terminal |

As an adjective eternal

is lasting forever; unending.

As a noun terminal is

terminal (at an airport etc).

eternal

English

Alternative forms

* (chiefly archaic) * (obsolete) * eternall (obsolete)

Adjective

(-)
  • Lasting forever; unending.
  • * John Locke
    • to know whether there were any real being, whose duration has been eternal
  • * Dryden
    • Fires eternal in thy temple shine.
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2012 , date=May 27 , author=Nathan Rabin , title=TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “New Kid On The Block” (season 4, episode 8; originally aired 11/12/1992) , work=The Onion AV Club citation , page= , passage=In a bid to understand the eternal mystery that is woman, Bart goes to the least qualified possible source for advice and counsel: his father, who remarkably seems to have made it to his mid-30s without quite figuring out much of anything. }}
  • (philosophy) existing outside time; as opposed to sempiternal, existing within time but everlastingly
  • (dated) Exceedingly great or bad; used as an intensifier.
    • some eternal villain

    Synonyms

    * permanent, sempiternal, endless, everlasting * (existing outside time) timeless, atemporal

    Antonyms

    * ephemeral * sempiternal

    Derived terms

    * eternal life * eternal recurrence * eternal return * eternal triangle * hope springs eternal

    Anagrams

    * English words suffixed with -al ----

    terminal

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A building in an airport where passengers transfer from ground transportation to the facilities that allow them to board airplanes.
  • A rail station where service begins and ends; the end of the line. For example: Grand Central Terminal in New York City.
  • In electronics, the end of a line where signals are either transmitted or received, or a point along the length of a line where the signals are made available to apparatus.
  • An electric contact on a battery.
  • In telecommunications, the apparatus to send and/or receive signals on a line, such as a telephone or network device.
  • (computing) In the context of computer hardware, a device for entering data into a computer or a communications system and/or displaying data received, especially a device equipped with a keyboard and some sort of textual display.
  • (computing) A computer program that emulates a terminal (6).
  • (computing theory) A terminal symbol in a formal grammar.

    • Related terms

    * coterminal * term * terminable * terminally * terminate * terminus

    Adjective

    (-)
  • (illness) Fatal; resulting in death.
    • (example) terminal cancer
  • Appearing at the end; top or apex of a physical object.
  • Occurring at the end of a word, sentence, or period of time.

    • Related terms

    * term * terminus * terminate * termination * (illness) uncurable

    Synonyms

    * (appearing at the end) final, late

    Antonyms

    * (l) * (illness) early * (appearing at the end) initial, early

    External links

    * *

    Anagrams

    * ----