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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>infinite</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="../../jargon.css" type="text/css"/><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.61.0"/><link rel="home" href="../index.html" title="The Jargon File"/><link rel="up" href="../I.html" title="I"/><link rel="previous" href="infant-mortality.html" title="infant mortality"/><link rel="next" href="infinite-loop.html" title="infinite loop"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">infinite</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="infant-mortality.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center">I</th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="infinite-loop.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><dt><a id="infinite"/><dt xmlns="" id="infinite"><b>infinite</b>: <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="grammar">adj.</span></dt></dt><dd><p> [common] Consisting of a large number of objects; extreme. Used
very loosely as in: &#8220;<span class="quote">This program produces infinite garbage.</span>&#8221;
&#8220;<span class="quote">He is an infinite loser.</span>&#8221; The word most likely to follow
<span class="firstterm">infinite</span>, though, is
<a href="../H/hair.html"><i class="glossterm">hair</i></a>. (It has been pointed out that fractals are an
excellent example of infinite hair.) These uses are abuses of the word's
mathematical meaning. The term <span class="firstterm">semi-infinite</span>, denoting an immoderately large
amount of some resource, is also heard. &#8220;<span class="quote">This compiler is taking a
semi-infinite amount of time to optimize my program.</span>&#8221; See also
<a href="../S/semi.html"><i class="glossterm">semi</i></a>.</p></dd><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="infant-mortality.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="../I.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="infinite-loop.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">infant mortality </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> infinite loop</td></tr></table></div></body></html>