Word of the week – Interminable

Interminable

DEFINITION:

late Middle English: from Old French, or from late Latin interminabilis, from in- ‘not’ + terminare (terminate= means to end).

Adjective:  endless or apparently endless (often used hyperbolically).

CHARACTERISTICS Example in a sentence:

The explanation took an interminable amount of time.

The road seemed to go on interminably.

EXAMPLES (synonyms):

endlessly

continually

forever

frequently

ceaselessly

NON-EXAMPLES (antonyms):

ceasing

halting

limited

terminable

finite

Do you know what ‘until the cows come home’ means?

When we say ‘until the cows come home’ we are referring to something happening for a long and unspecified amount of time.

Origin – the story:

Cows make their way home in their own time, they don’t rush.

This phrase is a long-standing one that dates back in print to at least the late sixteenth century.

Example: They had a fantastic time together and could have continued walking along the beach until the cows came home