Standard Lemma guide

immemorial

adj · 1 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

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ɪ.məˈmɔːɹi.əl/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɔːɹɪəl
  • rhymes with -ɔːɹiəl
  • CMU ARPABET: IH2 M AH0 M AO1 R IY0 AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

That is beyond memory; ancient.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable, postpositional, sometimes

Examples

  • The rocks had stood overlooking the valley since time immemorial.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From French immémorial. By surface analysis, im- + memorial.

Across languages

Translations

17 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: незапомнен (nezapomnen) — that is beyond memory; ancient
  • Bulgarian: древен (dreven) — that is beyond memory; ancient
  • Catalan: immemorial — that is beyond memory; ancient
  • Esperanto: nememorebla — that is beyond memory; ancient
  • Finnish: muinainen — that is beyond memory; ancient
  • French: immémorial — that is beyond memory; ancient
  • Norwegian Bokmål: uminnelig — that is beyond memory; ancient
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: uminneleg — that is beyond memory; ancient
  • Russian: да́вний (dávnij) — that is beyond memory; ancient
  • Russian: незапамятный (nezapamjatnyj) — that is beyond memory; ancient
  • Russian: дре́вний (drévnij) — that is beyond memory; ancient
  • Russian: ста́рый (stáryj) — that is beyond memory; ancient
  • Spanish: inmemorial — that is beyond memory; ancient
  • Swedish: uråldrig — that is beyond memory; ancient
  • Swedish: urminnes — that is beyond memory; ancient
  • Vietnamese: xa xưa — that is beyond memory; ancient
  • Vietnamese: thượng cổ — that is beyond memory; ancient