Finite is the opposite of infinite. It may refer to:
- A finite measurement (of time, length, area, etc.) — that is, a real number
- Finite set, whose cardinality (number of elements) is some natural number
- Finite verb, being inflected for person and for tense
Famous quotes containing the word finite:
“Any language is necessarily a finite system applied with different degrees of creativity to an infinite variety of situations, and most of the words and phrases we use are “prefabricated” in the sense that we don’t coin new ones every time we speak.”
—David Lodge (b. 1935)
“Are not all finite beings better pleased with motions relative than absolute?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“For it is only the finite that has wrought and suffered; the infinite lies stretched in smiling repose.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)