sempiternal

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/

• Audio (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.

Anagrams

• intersample, planimeters