different between every vs forever

English

Alternative forms

• ev’ry (poetic)
• euery (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English every, everich, eaver-euch, averiche, aver alche, ever ælche, from Old English ?fre ?l?, ?fre ??hwil?, ?fre ?ehwil? (“each and every”), equivalent to ever +? each and/or ever +? which.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /??v.(?.)?i/
• Hyphenation: eve?ry, ev?e?ry

Determiner

every

1. All of a countable group (considered individually), without exception.

   • At half-past nine on this Saturday evening, the parlour of the Salutation Inn, High Holborn, contained most of its customary visitors. […] In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for its own select circle, a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening, for a pipe and a cheerful glass.
2. Denotes equal spacing at a stated interval, or a proportion corresponding to such a spacing.

3. (with certain nouns) Denotes an abundance of something.

   We wish you every happiness in the future.

   I have every confidence in him.

   There is every reason why we should not go.

Synonyms

• each
• (slang) e'ry

Antonyms

• no
• none

Derived terms

Descendants

• Sranan Tongo: ibri

Translations

See also

• all
• each

Anagrams

• veery, verye, y'ever

Middle English

Adjective

every

1. Alternative form of everich
   • 14th c. Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales. General Prologue: 3-4.

     And bathed every veyne in swich licour,

     Of which vertu engendred is the flour;

English

Alternative forms

• for ever

Etymology

From Middle English for ever, for evere, equivalent to for +? ever.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /f????v?(?)/
• (US) IPA^(key): /f????v?/, [f????v?], [f???v?], [f????v?]
• Rhymes: -?v?(r)

Adverb

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.
2. (duration, colloquial, hyperbolic) For a very long time, a seeming eternity.
   • 1988, Anne Tyler, Breathing Lessons, Chapter 1

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

   We had to wait forever to get inside.

3. (frequency) Constantly or frequently.

   You are forever nagging me.

   • 1912: Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan of the Apes, Chapter 5

     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.

Usage notes

• 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.

Synonyms

• always
• continually
• eternally
• evermore
• for good
• forevermore
• for ever more
• forever and a day
• incessantly
• until Kingdom come
• permanently

Derived terms

• foreverness
• foreverhood
• forever home

Related terms

• everlasting
• every
• everyday
• never
• nevermore
• whatever
• whenever
• whoever

Translations

Noun

forever (plural forevers)

1. An extremely long time.
   • 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. (colloquial) A mythical time in the infinite future that will never come.

Translations

Adjective

forever (not comparable)

1. Permanent, lasting