What is the difference between infinite and infinity?
infinite | infinity | Derived terms |
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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(label) Endlessness, unlimitedness, absence of end or limit.
A number that has an infinite numerical value that cannot be counted.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2012-01
, author=Michael Riordan
, title=Tackling Infinity
, volume=100, issue=1, page=86
, magazine=
An idealised point which is said to be approached by sequences of values whose magnitudes increase without bound.
(label) A number which is very large compared to some characteristic number. For example, in optics, an object which is much further away than the focal length of a lens is said to be "at infinity", as the distance of the image from the lens varies very little as the distance increases further.
(label) The symbol .
Infinity is a related term of infinite.
Infinity is a derived term of infinite.
As an adjective infinite
is indefinably large, countlessly great; immense.As a numeral infinite
is infinitely many.As a noun infinity is
endlessness, unlimitedness, absence of end or limit.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.
Usage notes
Although the term is incomparable in the precise sense, it can be comparable both in mathematics and set theory to compare different degrees of infinity, and informally to denote yet a larger thing.Synonyms
* amaranthine * boundless * countless * endless * immeasurable * inestimable * interminable * limitless * unbounded * unlimited * vastAntonyms
* finite * infinitesimal * limitedHyponyms
* (set theory) countably infinite * (set theory) uncountableDerived terms
* infinitely * infinitesimal * infinitude * infinityNumeral
(head)infinity
English
Noun
citation, passage=Some of the most beautiful and thus appealing physical theories, including quantum electrodynamics and quantum gravity, have been dogged for decades by infinities' that erupt when theorists try to prod their calculations into new domains. Getting rid of these nagging ' infinities has probably occupied far more effort than was spent in originating the theories.}}