infinitesimal

Learned borrowing from Latin *infinitesimus. Displaced earlier coordinate term fluxion.

• IPA^(key): /ˌɪnfɪnɪˈtɛsɪməl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

infinitesimal (comparative more infinitesimal, superlative most infinitesimal)

1. Incalculably, exceedingly, or immeasurably minute; vanishingly small.

   Do you ever get the feeling that you are but an infinitesimal speck, swallowed by the vastness of the universe and beyond?

   • 1913, Arthur Conan Doyle, “(please specify the page)”, in The Poison Belt , London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:

     "You will conceive a bunch of grapes," said he, "which are covered by some infinitesimal but noxious bacillus."

   • 2001, Eoin Colfer, Artemis Fowl, page 221:

     Then you could say that the doorway exploded. But the particular verb doesn't do the action justice. Rather, it shattered into infinitesimal pieces.

2. (mathematics) Of or pertaining to values that approach zero as a limit.
3. (informal) Very small.

• Strictly, this adjective, like infinite, is incomparable, so more infinitesimal and most infinitesimal are proscribed, especially in the mathematical sense. However, these forms do occur in informal usage, where the very small (but measurable) sense is most common.

• See also Thesaurus:tiny

• infinite
• enormous

• infinitesimal analysis

English Wikipedia has an article on:

infinitesimal

Wikipedia

infinitesimal (plural infinitesimals)

1. (mathematics) A non-zero quantity whose magnitude is smaller than any positive number (by definition it is not a real number).

• infinity

• infinitesimal calculus
• infinitesimally

• IPA^(key): /infinitesiˈmal/
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: in‧fi‧ni‧te‧si‧mal

infinitesimal m or f (masculine and feminine plural infinitesimales)

1. infinitesimal

• “infinitesimal”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10