infinitesimal

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See also: infinitésimal

English

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Etymology

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Learned borrowing from Latin *infinitesimus. Displaced earlier coordinate term fluxion.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˌɪnfɪnɪˈtɛsɪməl/
  • Audio (US):(file)

Adjective

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infinitesimal (comparative more infinitesimal, superlative most infinitesimal)

  1. Incalculably, exceedingly, or immeasurably minute; vanishingly small.
    Do you ever get the feeling that you are but an infinitesimal speck, swallowed by the vastness of the universe and beyond?
    • 1913, Arthur Conan Doyle, “(please specify the page)”, in The Poison Belt [], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:
      "You will conceive a bunch of grapes," said he, "which are covered by some infinitesimal but noxious bacillus."
    • 2001, Eoin Colfer, Artemis Fowl, page 221:
      Then you could say that the doorway exploded. But the particular verb doesn't do the action justice. Rather, it shattered into infinitesimal pieces.
  2. (mathematics) Of or pertaining to values that approach zero as a limit.
  3. (informal) Very small.

Usage notes

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  • Strictly, this adjective, like infinite, is incomparable, so more infinitesimal and most infinitesimal are proscribed, especially in the mathematical sense. However, these forms do occur in informal usage, where the very small (but measurable) sense is most common.

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Antonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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Noun

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

infinitesimal (plural infinitesimals)

  1. (mathematics) A non-zero quantity whose magnitude is smaller than any positive number (by definition it is not a real number).

Antonyms

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Translations

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Spanish

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /infinitesiˈmal/ [ĩɱ.fi.ni.t̪e.siˈmal]
  • Rhymes: -al
  • Syllabification: in‧fi‧ni‧te‧si‧mal

Adjective

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infinitesimal m or f (masculine and feminine plural infinitesimales)

  1. infinitesimal

Derived terms

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Further reading

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