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Each day this month, I’ll give you a specific stylistic technique or quality, and I’d like you to recreate (as closely as you can) the quote that I’ve botched by removing it. When language sounds beautiful or memorable, often there’s some particular technique responsible for that effect. Don’t go straight to the review now-let your working memory empty out first. Spend at least 20 seconds occupying your mind with the game below. Fill in the blanks: "(Person) repeated ad infinitum that _." Or, "(Person) repeated _ ad infinitum."Įxample: "The presenter repeated the filler word 'like' ad infinitum. Think of someone who annoyed you by saying the same thing again and again. You’ll know you understand what "ad infinitum" means when you can explain it without saying "endlessly" or "on and on and on." try it out: Look away from the screen to explain the definition in your own words. Sometimes you just have to make a choice instead of analyzing it ad infinitum. examples:Īt HomeGoods, shoppers only reach the cashier after moseying past displays of bowls, spatulas, candy, pretzels, photo frames, dog toys, bouncy balls- ad infinitum.
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"Ad infinitum" can also cap off a list: "an analysis, an analysis of the analysis, and so on ad infinitum " "excuses, more excuses, more excuses.ad infinitum."Īlthough foreign phrases generally take italics, our Latin "ad infinitum" is so common in English that nobody italicizes it anymore. You might talk about something "done and redone ad infinitum:" "they've used and reused this same idea ad infinitum," "I adjust and readjust the approach ad infinitum." Talk about something that happens ad infinitum: something that repeats or continues ad infinitum, something that lasts, goes on, or endures ad infinitum, something that varies or grows ad infinitum, and, less kindly, someone who talks ad infinitum. You most often use it to talk about things that irritate you with their monotony or their continuation. This term usually has a mildly negative tone. You usually put them close to the action they describe:
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That is, they tell when, where, how, and to what extent This phrase is Latin for "to infinity." Something that happens ad infinitum happens over over and over again in the exact same way, or happens forever. Literally "unknown land," this one means any place or idea that's unknown and unexplored. Literally "firm land," this means anything solid and substantial that you can use as a basis for something else.ģ. Literally "great work," this term describes the best thing that a person has ever created.Ģ. This text appears in the nursery rhyme The Siphonaptera almost unchanged.Slide today's "ad infinitum" into a mental file with other two-word Latin phrases you know:ġ. And the great fleas themselves, in turn, have greater fleas to go on, While these again have greater still, and greater still, and so on." "Great fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite 'em, And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum. The Victorian era mathematician Augustus De Morgan expanded on this with a similar verse:."So nat'ralists observe, a flea Hath smaller fleas that on him prey, And these have smaller fleas that bite 'em, And so proceed ad infinitum.". The 17th century writer Jonathan Swift mocked the idea of self-similarity in natural philosophy with the following lines in his poem "On Poetry: A Rhapsody":."The perimeter of a fractal may be iteratively drawn ad infinitum.".It may also be used in a manner similar to the Latin phrase " et cetera" to denote written words or a concept that continues for a lengthy period beyond what is shown. In context, it usually means "continue forever, without limit" and thus can be used to describe a non-terminating process, a non-terminating repeating process, or a set of instructions to be repeated "forever," among other uses.
#Ad infinitum dictionary free#
Look up ad infinitum in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.Īd infinitum is a Latin phrase meaning " to infinity" or " forevermore". For the musical group, see Ad Infinitum (band).