different between constant vs lasting

English

Etymology

From Middle English constant, from Old French constant, from Latin constantem, accusative of constans, from constare (“to stand firm”). Displaced native Old English singal.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?k?nst?nt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?k?nst?nt/

Adjective

constant (comparative more constant, superlative most constant)

1. Unchanged through time or space; permanent.
2. Consistently recurring over time; persistent.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:continuous
3. Steady in purpose, action, feeling, etc.

   • Both loving one fair maid, they yet remained constant friends.

   • His gifts, his constant courtship, nothing gained.

4. Firm; solid; not fluid.
   • 1660, Robert Boyle, New Experiments Physico-Mechanical: Touching the Spring of the Air and their Effects

     If […] you mix them, you may turn these two fluid liquors into a constant body.

5. (obsolete) Consistent; logical.
6. (computing, complexity theory) Bounded above by a constant.

Synonyms

• (unchanged through time or space): nonchanging, unaltering, unvarying; see also Thesaurus:changeless

Translations

Noun

constant (plural constants)

1. That which is permanent or invariable.
2. (algebra) A quantity that remains at a fixed value throughout a given discussion.
3. (sciences) Any property of an experiment, determined numerically, that does not change under given circumstances.
4. (computing) An identifier that is bound to an invariant value; a fixed value given a name to aid in readability of source code.

Translations

Related terms

• constantly (adv)
• constancy (n)

See also

• (computing) literal

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin c?nst?ns.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Valencian) IPA^(key): /kons?tant/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /kuns?tan/
• Rhymes: -ant

Adjective

constant (masculine and feminine plural constants)

1. constant

   Antonym: inconstant

Derived terms

• constantment
• inconstant

Related terms

• constància

Noun

constant f (plural constants)

1. constant

Further reading

• “constant” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “constant” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “constant” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “constant” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French constant, from Latin c?nst?ns.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k?n?st?nt/, /?k?n.st?nt/
• Hyphenation: con?stant
• Rhymes: -?nt

Adjective

constant (comparative constanter, superlative constantst)

1. constant, invariable
2. constant, continuous, unceasing

Inflection

Derived terms

• constante
• constantheid

French

Etymology

From Latin constans.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k??s.t??/
• Homophone: constants

Adjective

constant (feminine singular constante, masculine plural constants, feminine plural constantes)

1. constant

Derived terms

• constamment

Related terms

• constance

Further reading

• “constant” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Latin

Verb

c?nstant

1. third-person plural present active indicative of c?nst?

Romanian

Etymology

From French constant, from Latin constans.

Adjective

constant m or n (feminine singular constant?, masculine plural constan?i, feminine and neuter plural constante)

1. constant

Declension

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?læst??/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?l??st??/
• (æ-tensing) IPA^(key): /?le?st??/
• (Northern England) IPA^(key): /?last??/
• Rhymes: -??st??, -æst??
• Hyphenation: last?ing

Adjective

lasting (comparative more lasting, superlative most lasting)

1. Persisting for an extended period of time.

   Synonyms: abiding, durable; see also Thesaurus:lasting

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, London: William Ponsonbie, Book 2, Canto 5, p. 249,^[1]

     […] hasty wroth, and heedlesse hazardry

     Doe breede repentaunce late, and lasting infamy.

   • 1706, Susanna Centlivre, Love at a Venture, London: John Chantry, Act V, p. 63,^[2]

     Look ye, Marriage is a lasting thing—if it were for six Months only, I might venture upon thee—but for all days of my Life—mercy upon me […]

   • 1823, Lord Byron, Don Juan, Canto 11,^[3]

     I knew that nought was lasting, but now even

     Change grows too changeable, without being new:

   • 1931, Pearl S. Buck, The Good Earth, New York: Modern Library, 1944, Chapter 34, p. 311,^[4]

     Then his son bought a carven coffin hewn from a great log of fragrant wood which is used to bury the dead in and for nothing else because that wood is as lasting as iron, and more lasting than human bones, and Wang Lung was comforted.
2. (obsolete) Persisting forever.

   Synonyms: eternal, everlasting; see also Thesaurus:eternal

   • c. 1596, William Shakespeare, King John, Act 5, Scene 7,^[6]

     I am the cygnet to this pale faint swan,

     Who chants a doleful hymn to his own death,

     And from the organ-pipe of frailty sings

     His soul and body to their lasting rest.

   • 1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress, London: Nath. Ponder, p. 24,^[7]

     Things that are first must give place, but things that are last, are lasting.

Derived terms

• lastingly
• lastingness

Translations

Verb

lasting

1. present participle of last

Noun

lasting (plural lastings)

1. (obsolete) The action or state of persisting; the time during which something or someone persists.

   Synonyms: continuance, duration, endurance

   • 1598, I. D. (possibly John Dee) (translator), Aristotles Politiques, or Discourses of Gouernment, London: Adam Islip, Chapter 12, p. 334,^[8]

     But all things that haue beginning, must come to an end, and whatsoeuer groweth, must likewise deminish, being subiect to corruption and change, according to the time appointed vnto it by the course of Nature, as is seene by experience in plants, and in wights, which haue their ages and lastings certaine and determined.

   • 1651, John Donne, Letters to Severall Persons of Honour, London: Richard Marriot, dedicatory epistle,^[9]

     […] it may be some kinde of Prophecy, of the continuance, and lasting of these Letters, that having been scattered, more then Sibyls leaves, I cannot say into parts, but corners of the World, they have recollected and united themselves […]

   • 1690, John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, London: Thomas Basset, Book 2, Chapter 10, § 4, p. 65,^[10]

     But concerning the several degrees of lasting, wherewith Ideas are imprinted on the Memory, we may observe […]

2. A durable woollen material formerly used for women's shoes.

   Synonym: everlasting

3. The act or process of shaping footwear on a last.

Anagrams

• Gatlins, salting, slating, staling

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From laste +? -ing

Noun

lasting f or m (definite singular lastinga or lastingen, indefinite plural lastinger, definite plural lastingene)

1. loading (av / of)

Antonyms

• lossing

References

• “laste_2” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From laste +? -ing

Noun

lasting f (definite singular lastinga, indefinite plural lastingar, definite plural lastingane)

1. loading (av / of)

Antonyms

• lossing

References

• “lasting” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.