interminable
Americanadjective
-
incapable of being terminated; unending.
an interminable job.
-
monotonously or annoyingly protracted or continued; unceasing; incessant.
I can't stand that interminable clatter.
-
having no limits.
an interminable desert.
adjective
Other Word Forms
- interminability noun
- interminableness noun
- interminably adverb
Etymology
Origin of interminable
First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English word from Late Latin word interminābilis. See in- 3, terminable
Explanation
Use interminable to describe something that has or seems to have no end. Your math class. Your sister's violin recital. A babysitting job where five kids are going through your purse and the parents didn't leave a number. Something that is interminable is often boring, annoying, or hard to bear, such as an interminable noise. A near synonym is incessant, which also refers to something unpleasant that continues without stopping. It descends from the Latin prefix in-, "not," terminare, "to end," and the suffix -abilis, "able to." Latin terminare is also the source of the English verb terminate, "to end" and the corresponding noun termination, "an act of ending something."
Vocabulary lists containing interminable
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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Lord of the Flies
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"The Lottery," Vocabulary from the short story
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
An interminable profile in the New Yorker paints Sam Altman, leader of the rival giant OpenAI, as a person colleagues don’t trust.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 14, 2026
On Monday, Jan. 19, No. 1 ranked Indiana will finish an astonishing if interminable college football season by playing 10th-ranked Miami for the national championship.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 10, 2026
For the vast majority of people who use this now conventional dating method, romantic life can be an endless series of swipe-lefts, get-to-know-you DMs and occasional, interminable, 20-minute coffee dates.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 31, 2025
At another, I answered an interminable list of poorly worded questions about my health, such as “Do you have any physical limitations?”
From Slate • Apr. 27, 2025
Some sections were gone altogether, and there were interminable, long detours and many changes of train.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
