different between boundless vs illimitable

English

Etymology

bound +? -less

Adjective

boundless (comparative more boundless, superlative most boundless)

1. Without bounds, unbounded.
   • 1785, William Cowper, “The Garden”, in The Task, a Poem, in Six Books. By William Cowper [...] To which are Added, by the Same Author, An Epistle to Joseph Hill, Esq. Tirocinium, or a Review of Schools, and The History of John Gilpin, London: Printed for J[oseph] Johnson, No. 72 St. Paul's Church-Yard, OCLC 221351486; republished as The Task. A Poem. In Six Books. To which is Added, Tirocinium: or, A Review of Schools, new edition, Philadelphia, Pa.: Printed for Thomas Dobson, bookseller, in Second-street, second door above Chestnut-street, 1787, OCLC 23630717, page 87:

     'Tis the cruel gripe, / That lean hard-handed poverty inflicts, / The hope of better things, the chance to win, / The wi?h to ?hine, the thir?t to be amus'd, / That at the found of Winter's hoary wing, / Unpeople all our counties, of ?uch herds, / Of flutt'ring, loit'ring, cringing, begging, loo?e, / And wanton vagrants, as make London, va?t / And boundless as it is, a crowded coop.

Synonyms

• bottomless, limitless, unbottomed, unbounded; see also Thesaurus:infinite

Translations

English

Etymology

From il- +? limitable.

Pronunciation

• enPR: ?l?m'?t?b?l
• IPA^(key): /??l?m?t?b?l/

Adjective

illimitable (comparative more illimitable, superlative most illimitable)

1. Impervious to limitation, without limit.

   Synonyms: infinite, limitless, unlimited

   Antonyms: limitable, limited

   • 1838, Ralph Waldo Emerson, "An Address delivered before the Senior Class in Divinity College, Cambridge, Sunday evening, 15 July, 1838":

     The perception of this law of laws awakens in the mind a sentiment which we call the religious sentiment, and which makes our highest happiness. ... This sentiment is divine and deifying. It is the beatitude of man. It makes him illimitable.

   • 1908, Helen Keller, The World I Live In, New York: The Century Co., Chapter 4, p. 43,^[1]

     Through the sense of touch I know […] the illimitable variety of straight and curved lines,

   • ca. 1909, Mark Twain, Letters from the Earth [Introduction]:

     The Creator sat upon the throne, thinking. Behind him stretched the illimitable continent of heaven, steeped in a glory of light and color; before him rose the black night of Space, like a wall.

   • 1909, Jack London, Revolution and Other Essays: The Shrinkage of the Planet

     What a tremendous affair it was, the world of Homer, with its indeterminate boundaries, vast regions, and immeasurable distances. The Mediterranean and the Euxine were illimitable stretches of ocean waste over which years could be spent in endless wandering.

Derived terms

• illimitability
• illimitably

See also

• inimitable