indefinitely

English

Etymology

From indefinite +‎ -ly.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪnˈdɛfɪnɪtli/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: in‧def‧i‧nite‧ly

Adverb

indefinitely (not comparable)

1. In a manner that is not definite.

   an indefinitely determined fossil

2. For a long time, with no defined end.
   • 1905, Lloyd Osbourne, Baby Bullet: the motor of destiny, page 171:

     It was a dark, horsehairy place with a sort of abandon-hope atmosphere that seemed suitable for people that had no money, and who were going indefinitely into pawn.

   • 2020 May 20, David Thrower, Ian Wray, “Revisiting the plan for developing the North's rail network”, in Rail, page 40:

     One argument is that "the virus has changed everything" and that people will work from home and travel much less, easing capacity pressures.
     But there is a counter argument whereby we may all discover that, longer-term, many jobs cannot after all be effectively carried out from home indefinitely.

3. Forever.

Translations

in a manner that is not definite

Hungarian: bizonytalanul (hu), határozatlanul Russian: неопределённо (ru) (neopredeljónno)

for a long time, no end defined

Bulgarian: неопределено (bg) (neopredeleno) Catalan: indefinidament (ca) Dutch: voor onbepaalde tijd Finnish: toistaiseksi (fi) French: indéfiniment (fr) German: unbegrenzt (de) Hungarian: határozatlan/bizonytalan ideig/időre Japanese: 無期限に (むきげん, mu-kigenn-ni) Polish: bezterminowo Russian: бесконе́чно (ru) (beskonéčno), ве́чно (ru) (véčno) Tagalog: nang padituring

forever — see also forever

Bulgarian: завинаги (bg) (zavinagi) Dutch: (voor) altijd, voorgoed (nl), permanent (nl), eeuwig (nl) Finnish: ikuisesti (fi) French: infiniment (fr) Hungarian: korlátlan ideig/időre Japanese: 永遠に (えいえんに, eien-ni) Polish: bezterminowo Russian: бесконе́чно (ru) (beskonéčno), ве́чно (ru) (véčno) Spanish: indefinidamente

See also

• endlessly