Standard Lemma guide

sempiternal

adj · 3 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.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˌsɛm.pɪˈtɜː.nəl/
  • General-American: /ˌsɛm.pɪˈtɝ.nəl/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɜː(ɹ)nəl

1

adj

Meaning 1

Everlasting, eternal.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Having infinite temporal duration, rather than outside time and thus lacking temporal duration altogether; everlasting.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

Topics: human-sciences, philosophy, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adjective satellite

Meaning 3

having no known beginning and presumably no end

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • the dateless rise and fall of the tides
  • time is endless
  • sempiternal truth

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: dateless, endless

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Old French sempiternel, from Medieval Latin sempiternālis, from Latin sempiternus, a contraction of semperæternus, from semper (“always”) + æternus (“eternal”).

Across languages

Translations

5 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: вечен (večen) — seemingly everlasting or eternal
  • Bulgarian: безкраен (bezkraen) — seemingly everlasting or eternal
  • Finnish: ikiaikainen — seemingly everlasting or eternal
  • French: sempiternel — seemingly everlasting or eternal
  • Spanish: sempiterno — seemingly everlasting or eternal