eventually

English

Etymology

From eventual +‎ -ly. The third sense is influenced by any of several European languages, including Czech eventuálně, Swedish eventuellt.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɪˈvɛn.t͡ʃuː.ə.li/, /ɪˈvɛn.t͡ʃʊ.li/, /ɪˈvɛn.tjʊ.li/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ɪˈvɛn.t͡ʃu.ə.li/, /ɪˈvɛn.t͡ʃu.li/, /ɪˈvɛn.t͡ʃə.li/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adverb

eventually (not comparable)

1. In the end; at some later time, especially after a long time, a series of problems, struggles, delays or setbacks.

   Everyone's true colors will be revealed eventually.

   She didn't arrive. Eventually, we started without her.

   He hopes eventually to attend nursing school.

   • 2004, Chris Wallace, Character: Profiles in Presidential Courage:

     It had taken nine years from the evening that Truman first showed up with a pie plate at her mother's door, but his dogged perseverance eventually won him the hand of his boyhood Sunday school crush.

2. (mathematics, of a sequence) For some tail; for all terms beyond some term; with only finitely many exceptions.

   Eventually, all prime numbers are odd.

3. (proscribed, non-native speakers' English) Possibly, potentially, perhaps

   I will come eventually, but haven't decided yet.

Synonyms

• (sense, in the end) at last, finally, yet, ultimately, in the end

Translations

in the end

• Afrikaans: uiteindelik (af), ten slotte
• Arabic: أَخِيرًا (ʔaḵīran), فِي اَلْآخِرْ (fī l-ʔāḵir)
• Bulgarian: накра́я (bg) (nakrája)
• Catalan: finalment (ca)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 最後／最后 (ceoi³ hau⁶), 終於／终于 (ci² zung¹), 始終／始终 (yue) (ci² zung¹), 終須／终须 (zung¹ seoi¹)

  Mandarin: 最後／最后 (zh) (zuìhòu), 終於／终于 (zh) (zhōngyú) (used in the present), 終究／终究 (zh) (zhōngjiǔ), 終歸／终归 (zh) (zhōngguī), 始終／始终 (zh) (shǐzhōng)

• Czech: konečně (cs), nakonec (cs)
• Danish: til sidst, omsider (da), i sidste instans, med tiden, langt om længe (da)
• Dutch: uiteindelijk (nl)
• Esperanto: fine (eo)
• Finnish: lopulta (fi), viimeinkin
• French: finalement (fr), à terme (fr), à la fin (fr), finir par (fr) (verbal form)
• German: schließlich (de), letztendlich (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: χρόνῳ m (khrónōi)

• Hungarian: végül (hu), végül is (hu)
• Ido: tandem (io)
• Indonesian: akhirnya (id), pada akhirnya
• Interlingua: finalmente, al fin
• Irish: i ndeireadh na dála
• Italian: alla fine, infine (it)
• Japanese: とうとう (ja) (tōtō), 結局 (ja) (けっきょく, kekkyoku), ついに (ja) (tsui-ni), 最終的に (ja) (さいしゅうてきに, saishūteki ni), やっと (ja) (yatto)
• Korean: 결국(結局) (ko) (gyeolguk)
• Latin: tandem (la)
• Macedonian: на кра́јот (na krájot)
• Maori: nāwai, nāwai rā, nāwai rā, tāria te wā
• Norwegian: omsider

  Bokmål: til slutt, etter hvert (no)

  Nynorsk: til slutt

• Old English: æt nīehstan
• Polish: w końcu (pl), ostatecznie (pl), wreszcie (pl)
• Portuguese: finalmente (pt), enfim (pt), no final das contas
• Romanian: în fine, la urma urmei, în cele din urmă
• Russian: в конце́ концо́в (ru) (v koncé koncóv), в коне́чном счёте (v konéčnom sčóte), в ито́ге (ru) (v itóge)
• Scottish Gaelic: aig a' cheann thall
• Serbo-Croatian: eventualno (sh), konačno (sh), na kraju, na koncu
• Spanish: al final, finalmente (es), con el tiempo, a la larga
• Sranan Tongo: te fu kaba
• Swedish: så småningom (sv), slutligen (sv), till slut (sv), till sist, omsider (sv)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: sonunda (tr)
• Ukrainian: зре́штою (uk) (zréštoju)
• Vietnamese: cuối cùng (vi)

See also

• frequently
• one day
• some day
• sooner or later