infinitesimal
/ˌɪnfɪnɪˈtɛsɪməl/
infinitesimal means incalculably, exceedingly, or immeasurably minute; vanishingly small. It carries an Arena rating of 1645, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, infinitesimal ranks #297 of 17,124 for Most Sublime Words, #943 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #3,208 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #3,685 of 17,138 for Most Incisive Words.
infinitesimal is pronounced /ˌɪnfɪnɪˈtɛsɪməl/.
Why “infinitesimal” is a great word
Immeasurably or incalculably minute; a non-zero quantity smaller than any positive real number. From New Latin infinitesimus, meaning "infinitieth" (from Latin infinitus, "infinite"), + the adjectival suffix -al, it displaced the earlier term fluxion. Unlike "infinite," which opens outward toward boundless magnitude, or "negligible," which dismisses smallness as beneath notice, infinitesimal is a precise, paradoxical presence: too small to measure yet stubbornly existent. It is the narrowing gap between a curve and its tangent, the invisible interval between one moment and the next, or the final, fading note of a struck bell that lingers just beyond hearing—an unseeable residue that makes the calculus of change possible, proof that the smallest things contain entire systems of transformation.
Etymology
From New Latin īnfīnītēsimus + -al. Displaced earlier coordinate term fluxion.
adj
- Incalculably, exceedingly, or immeasurably minute; vanishingly small.e.g.“Do you ever get the feeling that you are but an infinitesimal speck, swallowed by the vastness of the universe and beyond?”
- Of or pertaining to non-zero quantities whose magnitude is less than any positive rational number.
- Very small.
noun
- A non-zero quantity whose magnitude is smaller than any positive number (by definition it is not a real number).
- Something infinitesimally small.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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