finity
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From French finité, from Old French finité, from fini (past participle of finir (“to bound”)) + -ité.[1]
Noun
[edit]finity (countable and uncountable, plural finities) (rare)
- (uncountable) The state or characteristic of being limited in number or scope.
- 1874, Julian Hawthorne, chapter 31, in Idolatry: A Romance:
- He was calm in the conviction that he could measure and calculate the universe […] He matched finity against the Infinite.
- 1899, Jack London, The White Silence:
- Nature has many tricks wherewith she convinces man of his finity.
- 1987, Julius Thomas Fraser, Time, the Familiar Stranger, →ISBN, page 37:
- In a very non-Aristotelian fashion, Nicholas of Cusa produced a synthesis of finity and infinity.
- 2006, Rolf A. F. Witzsche, Universal Divine Science: Spiritual Pedagogicals, →ISBN, page 106:
- We […] labor to find our identity in the infinite in spite of our encumberment in finity.
- (countable) Something which is limited in number or scope.
- 1837 September 2, “The Transcendalist's Dialogues: No. IX”, in The Shepherd, volume 3, number 10, page 79:
- If we imagined a person capable of comprehending infinity, we should merely think that he was able infinitely to add up finities.
- 1884 January, “Prayer and Science”, in Methodist Quarterly Review (4th)[1], volume 66, page 8:
- And this condescension of infinite Perfection to the finities—to their imperfections, contingencies, and littlenesses—is the very result of its perfection.
Synonyms
[edit]- (state or characteristic of being limited): boundedness, finitude, finiteness, limitedness; see also Thesaurus:finity
Antonyms
[edit]- (antonym(s) of “state or characteristic of being limited”): infinity, unlimitedness, endlessness; see also Thesaurus:infinity
Translations
[edit]state or characteristic of being limited
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References
[edit]- ^ “finity, n.”, in OED Online
, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
