Meaning & use
immortal
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Meanings
adjectivenot comparable
Living forever and never able to die.
Grammar: Usually describes gods, spirits or beings in stories.
Patterns
- an immortal being
In the myth, the gods were immortal and never aged.
The vampire in the novel is immortal.
Some people dream of an immortal soul.
adjectivebefore a nounfigurative
Remembered or lasting for a very long time, long after the creator or event has gone.
Grammar: Often figurative and before a noun: immortal words.
Patterns
- immortal fame
Shakespeare's immortal plays are still performed today.
The goalkeeper made an immortal save.
She wrote immortal lines that people still quote.
nouncountable
A being that can never die, or a person whose fame will never fade.
Grammar: Often capitalized for gods or legendary figures.
Patterns
- an immortal of something
Greek stories describe the immortals living on Mount Olympus.
He is one of the immortals of jazz.
The film follows an immortal who has lived for centuries.
Word forms
| plural | immortals |
|---|
Common combinations
- immortal soul
- The priest spoke of the immortal soul.
- immortal words
- The speech ended with immortal words.
- become immortal
- Great artists become immortal through their work.
- immortal love
- The poem celebrates immortal love.
- immortal fame
- He sought immortal fame.
Synonyms and how they differ
- eternal
- Eternal means without beginning or end and fits time, love or places, not only living beings.
- undying
- Undying is more literary and stresses a feeling that does not fade.
- everlasting
- Everlasting stresses endless continuation, often for objects or states.
- deathless
- Deathless is poetic and emphasizes freedom from death.
Opposites
Word family
- immortality noun
- the ability to live forever or to be remembered forever
- immortalize verb
- to make someone or something famous forever
- mortal adjective
- certain to die eventually
- mortality noun
- the state of being subject to death
Commonly confused: immortal or immoral?
immortal vs immoral
Immoral means against accepted standards of right and wrong, and has nothing to do with death.
Practice
Which word best fits? 'The gods of the old story were ______, free from age and death.'
Choose one answer.
Immortal means living forever. Immoral is a close lookalike but is about right and wrong.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “immortal”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.