forever

• for ever (chiefly British)
• fore'er, for e'er (dialect or poetic, otherwise archaic)
• Forever (noun, poetic)

Univerbation of for ever, from Middle English for ever, for evere. By surface analysis, for +‎ ever. First attested in the late 14c., and first attested in the late 17c. as one word. Noun first attested in 1858.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /fəˈɹɛvə(ɹ)/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /fəˈɹɛvɚ/, , ,

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛvə(ɹ)

forever (not comparable)

1. (duration) For all time, for all eternity; for a lifetime; for an infinite amount of time.

   I shall love you forever.

   • 1839, Denison Olmsted, A Compendium of Astronomy, page 95:

     Secondly, When a body is once in motion it will continue to move forever, unless something stops it. When a ball is struck on the surface of the earth, the friction of the earth and the resistance of the air soon stop its motion.

   • 1949, George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four:

     If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — for ever.

2. (duration, colloquial, hyperbolic) For a very long time, a seeming eternity.

   We had to wait forever to get inside.

   That was forever ago.

   • 1988, Anne Tyler, chapter 1, in Breathing Lessons:

     She and Serena had been friends forever. Or nearly forever: forty-two years, beginning with Miss Kimmel's first grade.

   • 2024 February 7, Lee Waters tells Conrad Landin, “A mission to improve transport for Wales”, in RAIL, number 1002, page 35:

     Anything in the world of transport takes forever to do, and costs far too much.

3. (frequency) Constantly or frequently.

   You are forever nagging me.

   • 1912 October, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Tarzan of the Apes”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., →OCLC; republished as chapter 5, in Tarzan of the Apes, New York, N.Y.: A. L. Burt Company, 1914 June, →OCLC:

     Early in his boyhood he had learned to form ropes by twisting and tying long grasses together, and with these he was forever tripping Tublat or attempting to hang him from some overhanging branch.

• In the United Kingdom and most of the Commonwealth, the spelling for ever may be used instead of forever for the senses for all time and for a long time. In Canada and the United States, generally only forever is used, regardless of sense.

forever (countable and uncountable, plural forevers)

1. (countable, colloquial) An extremely long time.

   I haven't seen him in forever!

   It took me forever to make up my mind.

   Don't spend forever on the phone!

   She should've been here five forevers ago!

   • 2001 September, Michael Knisley, “The Braves' last stand”, in Sporting News, volume 225, number 36, page 12:

     It's been a fortnight of forevers since the Braves could count on a late-game comeback.

   • 2007, Ruth O'Callaghan, Where acid has etched:

     In the airport, holiday lovers kiss, mouth forevers, the usual argot betrays you. Desire makes love dull.

2. (uncountable, colloquial or poetic) A mythical time in the future that will never come.

   Sure, I'd be happy to meet with you on the 12th of forever.

forever (not comparable)

1. (chiefly informal) Permanent, lasting; constant, perpetual.
   • 1971, Bruce Johnston, "Disney Girls (1957)":

     It'd be a peaceful life / With a forever wife / And a kid someday

   • 2009, Kathy Kadilak, Tommy Finds His Forever Home, page 3:

     We'll take care of you and help you find a Forever Home.

   • 2012, Brad Hicks, For Every Fear a Promise, page 96:

     He is a forever friend.

   • 2016, Mark Danner, Spiral: Trapped in the Forever War:

     Danner posits that the United States has been trapped in a "forever war" by 9/11, and describes a nation that has been altered in fundamental ways by President Bush's having declared a war of choice and without an exit plan, […]