finityとは 意味・読み方・使い方

名詞

finity (countable かつ uncountable, 複数形 finities) (rare)

1. (uncountable) The state or characteristic of being limited in number or scope.
   • 1874, Julian Hawthorne, chapter 31, in Idolatry: A Romance:

     He was calm in the conviction that he could measure and calculate the universe […] He matched finity against the Infinite.

   • 1899, Jack London, The White Silence:

     Nature has many tricks wherewith she convinces man of his finity.

   • 1987, Julius Thomas Fraser, Time, the Familiar Stranger, →ISBN, page 37:

     In a very non-Aristotelian fashion, Nicholas of Cusa produced a synthesis of finity and infinity.

   • 2006, Rolf A. F. Witzsche, Universal Divine Science: Spiritual Pedagogicals, →ISBN, page 106:

     We […] labor to find our identity in the infinite in spite of our encumberment in finity.

2. (countable) Something which is limited in number or scope.
   • 1837 September 2, “The Transcendalist's Dialogues: No. IX”, in The Shepherd, volume 3, number 10, page 79:

     If we imagined a person capable of comprehending infinity, we should merely think that he was able infinitely to add up finities.

   • 1884 January, “Prayer and Science”, in Methodist Quarterly Review (4th)‎^[1], volume 66, page 8:

     And this condescension of infinite Perfection to the finities—to their imperfections, contingencies, and littlenesses—is the very result of its perfection.