Finity vs Infinite - What's the difference?
finity | infinite |
(rare, uncountable) The state or characteristic of being limited in number or scope.
* 1874 , , Idolatry: A Romance , ch. 31:
* 1899 , , "The White Silence":
* 1987 , , Time, the Familiar Stranger , ISBN 9780870235764,
* 2006 , Rolf A. F. Witzsche, Universal Divine Science: Spiritual Pedagogicals , ISBN 9781897046944,
(rare, countable) Something which is limited in number or scope.
* 1734 , , "A Brief Scheme of Ontology" in Philosophical Essays on Various Subjects (6th edition, 1794),
* 1837 Sep. 2, "The Transcendalist's Dialogues: No. IX," The Shepherd , vol. 3, no. 10,
* 1884 Jan., "Prayer and Science," Methodist Quarterly Review , 4th series, vol. 66,
Indefinably large, countlessly great; immense.
* , I.40:
* (and other bibliographic particulars) H. Brooke
* (and other bibliographic particulars) Marlowe
* (and other bibliographic particulars) Milton
Boundless, endless, without end or limits; innumerable.
* Bible, Psalms cxlvii. 5
With plural noun: infinitely many.
* 2012 , Helen Donelan, ?Karen Kear, ?Magnus Ramage, Online Communication and Collaboration: A Reader
(mathematics) Greater than any positive quantity or magnitude; limitless.
(set theory, of a set) Having infinitely many elements.
* {{quote-web
, year = 2009
, author = Brandon C. Look
, title = Symbolic Logic II, Lecture 2: Set Theory
, site = www.uky.edu/~look
, url = http://www.uky.edu/~look/Phi520-Lecture7.pdf
, accessdate = 2012-11-20 }}
(grammar) Not limited by person or number.
(music) Capable of endless repetition; said of certain forms of the canon, also called perpetual fugues, constructed so that their ends lead to their beginnings.
Infinitely many.
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As nouns the difference between finity and infinite
is that finity is (rare|uncountable) the state or characteristic of being limited in number or scope while infinite is infinity, endlessness.finity
English
Noun
(finities)- He was calm in the conviction that he could measure and calculate the universe. . . . He matched finity against the Infinite.
- Nature has many tricks wherewith she convinces man of his finity .
p. 37 (Google preview):
- In a very non-Aristotelian fashion, Nicholas of Cusa produced a synthesis of finity and infinity.
p. 106 (Google preview):
- We . . . labor to find our identity in the infinite in spite of our encumberment in finity .
p. 370 (Google preview):
- Disagreement in substance or essence . . . may be called Disproportion, as there is a disproportion between finities and infinities, i.e. there is no proportion between them.
p. 79 (Google preview):
- If we imagined a person capable of comprehending infinity, we should merely think that he was able infinitely to add up finities .
p. 8 (Google preview):
- And this condescension of infinite Perfection to the finities —to their imperfections, contingencies, and littlenesses—is the very result of its perfection.
Synonyms
* boundedness * finitude * finiteness * limitednessAntonyms
* infinity * unlimitedness * endlessnessReferences
* Oxford English Dictionary , 2nd ed., 1989.infinite
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- The number is so infinite , that verily it would be an easier matter for me to reckon up those that have feared the same.
- Whatever is finite, as finite, will admit of no comparative relation with infinity; for whatever is less than infinite is still infinitely distant from infinity; and lower than infinite distance the lowest or least cannot sink.
- infinite riches in a little room
- which infinite calamity shall cause to human life
- Great is our Lord, and of great power; his understanding is infinite .
- Huxley's theory says that if you provide infinite monkeys with infinite typewriters, some monkey somewhere will eventually create a masterpiece – a play by Shakespeare, a Platonic dialogue, or an economic treatise by Adam Smith.
- For any infinite set, there is a 1-1 correspondence between it and at least one of its proper subsets. For example, there is a 1-1 correspondence between the set of natural numbers and the set of squares of natural numbers, which is a proper subset of the set of natural numbers.