endless

From Middle English endeles, from Old English endelēas (“endless”), from Proto-Germanic *andijalausaz (“endless”), equivalent to end +‎ -less.

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛndlɪs/, /ˈɛndləs/

• Audio (US):

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• Hyphenation: end‧less

endless (not comparable)

1. Having no end.

   endless time; endless praise

   • 1942 May-June, “Cable Operation at Liverpool and London”, in Railway Magazine, page 174:

     Trains from Lime Street to Edge Hill were hauled by an endless hempen rope worked by a stationary engine on the platform at the latter station.

2. Extending indefinitely.

   an endless line

3. Too much or many to be exhausted; an extremely high number or amount of; immeasurable, innumerable.
   • 1971, Gwen White, Antique Toys And Their Background, page 64:

     In 1903, [Albert Shhoenhut] announced his Humpty Dumpty circus, with over 20 figures and animals, each with six joints enabling them to be put into endless positions.

4. (obsolete) Without profitable end; fruitless; unsatisfying.
   • c. 1615–1616, Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher, “Loves Pilgramage, a Comedy”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, Act II, scene iii:

     All loves are endless.

• (having no end): unending; see also Thesaurus:endless
• (extending indefinitely): eternal, infinite, unlimited; see also Thesaurus:infinite or Thesaurus:eternal

• finite
• limited

• Seldens