Standard Lemma guide

finitist

adj · noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

adj

Meaning 1

Of or relating to finitism.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • Primitive recursive arithmetic, or PRA, is a quantifier-free formalization of the natural numbers. It was first proposed by Skolem as a formalization of his finitist conception of the foundations of arithmetic, and it is widely agreed that all reasoning of PRA is finitist. Many also believe that all of finitism is captured by PRA, but others believe finitism can be extended to forms of recursion beyond primitive recursion, up to ε0, which is the proof-theoretic ordinal of Peano arithmetic. PRA's proof theoretic ordinal is ω^ω, where ω is the smallest transfinite ordinal. PRA is sometimes called Skolem arithmetic.WP

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A proponent of finitism.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: human-sciences, mathematics, philosophy, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From finite + -ist.