forever
UK /fəˈɹɛvə(ɹ)/ · US /fəˈɹɛvɚ/ adverb, noun, adjective
Forms forevers for ever fore'er for e'er
- adverb (duration) For all time, for all eternity; for a lifetime; for an infinite amount of time. “I shall love you forever.”
- adverb (duration, colloquial, hyperbolic) For a very long time, a seeming eternity. “We had to wait forever to get inside.”
- adverb (frequency) Constantly or frequently. “You are forever nagging me.”
- noun (countable, colloquial) An extremely long time. “I haven't seen him in forever!”
- noun (uncountable, colloquial or poetic) A mythical time in the future that will never come. “Sure, I'd be happy to meet with you on the 12th of forever.”
- adjective (chiefly informal) Permanent, lasting; constant, perpetual.
Synonyms
forevermore aeternum in perpetuum 5ever ad infinitum all the time always aye continually endlessly eternally ever ever after evermore fivever for good for evermore for ever and ever for ever more incessantly everlastingly forever and a day constantly perpetually
Antonyms
Etymology
Univerbation of for ever, from Middle English for ever, for evere. By surface analysis, for + ever. First attested in the late 14c., and first attested in the late 17c. as one word. Noun first attested in 1858.
Webster’s 1913
Etymology [For, prep. + ever.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “forever”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details