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finite

adjective · noun

Simple meaning

Having an end or limit.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

fynyt

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈfaɪnaɪt

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adjective

  1. Having an end or limit; (of a quantity) constrained by bounds; (of a set) whose number of elements is a natural number.

  2. grammar

    Bounded or limited in magnitude or spatial or temporal extent

  3. grammarof verbs

    Relating to forms of the verb that are limited in time by a tense and (usually) show agreement with number and person

  4. grammar

    Limited by (i.e. inflected for) person or number.

noun

  1. A thing which has an end or limit.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Having an end or limit; (of a quantity) constrained by bounds; (of a set) whose number of elements is a natural number.

Used this way, finite is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use finite

  • “The "goes" in "he goes" is a finite form of a verb.”adjective

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Bounded / relating

finite elementfinite verbfinite numberfinite sizefinite valuefinite length

Other combinations

finite differencefinite state

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • finitelyadverbDerived adverb

    With a finite limit.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • non-finiteadjectiveCompound term

    Not having tense, person, or number (as a participle or gerund or infinitive).

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: having an end or limit

bounded

Antonyms

adjective

Sense: having an end or limit

infinite

noun

Sense: thing which has an end or limit

infinite

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.