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