eternal

/ɪˈtʌrnəl/

/ɛˈtʌnəl/

If something lasts forever or even if it just feels like it’s going to last forever, you could call it eternal, which means that it goes on and on and will never change or end.

The Fountain of Youth is a mythical spring of water that rewards its bathers with eternal life, free from sickness and death forever. The Latin root of eternal is aeternalis, translating roughly as “of great age,” and eternal things are really, really old. Eternal can describe an abstract idea that never changes, like the eternal truths of war, or it can describe an annoyance that you wish would end, like the eternal boredom you feel watching a really dull movie.

Definitions of eternal

1. adjective

   continuing forever or indefinitely
   “eternal truths”

   synonyms: aeonian, ageless, eonian, everlasting, perpetual, unceasing, unending

   lasting, permanent

   continuing or enduring without marked change in status or condition or place
2. adjective

   tiresomely long; seemingly without end
   “the wait seemed eternal”

   “eternal quarreling”

   synonyms: endless, interminable

   long

   primarily temporal sense; being or indicating a relatively great or greater than average duration or passage of time or a duration as specified