eventually

eventually

English

Etymology

From eventual +‎ -ly. The third sense is influenced by any of several European languages, including Czech eventuálně, Swedish eventuellt.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɪ.ˈvɛn.t͡ʃuː.ə.li/, /ɪ.ˈvɛn.t͡ʃʊ.li/, /ɪ.ˈvɛn.tjʊ.li/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ɪ.ˈvɛn.t͡ʃu.ə.li/, /ɪ.ˈvɛn.t͡ʃu.li/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adverb

eventually (not comparable)

1. In the end; at some later time, especially after a long time, a series of problems, struggles, delays or setbacks.

   Everyone's true colors will be revealed eventually.

   • 2004, Chris Wallace, Character: Profiles in Presidential Courage:

     It had taken nine years from the evening that Truman first showed up with a pie plate at her mother's door, but his dogged perseverance eventually won him the hand of his boyhood Sunday school crush.

2. (mathematics, of a sequence) For some tail; for all terms beyond some term; with only finitely many exceptions.

   Eventually, all prime numbers are odd.

3. (proscribed, non-native speakers' English) Possibly, potentially, perhaps

   I will come eventually, but haven't decided yet.

Synonyms

• (sense, in the end) at last, finally, yet, ultimately, in the end

Translations

in the end

Afrikaans: uiteindelik (af), ten slotte Bulgarian: накра́я (bg) (nakrája) Catalan: finalment (ca) Chinese: Cantonese: 最後 (ceoi3 hau6), 終於 (ci2 zung1), 始終 (yue) (ci2 zung1), 終須 (zung1 seoi1) Mandarin: 最後／最后 (zh) (zuìhòu), 終於／终于 (zh) (zhōngyú) (used in the present), 終究／终究 (zh) (zhōngjiǔ), 終歸／终归 (zh) (zhōngguī), 始終／始终 (zh) (shǐzhōng) Czech: konečně (cs), nakonec (cs) Danish: til sidst, omsider, i sidste instans, med tiden, langt om længe Dutch: uiteindelijk (nl) Esperanto: fine (eo) Finnish: lopulta (fi), viimeinkin French: finalement (fr), à terme (fr), à la fin (fr), finir par (fr) (verbal form) German: schließlich (de), letztendlich (de) Greek: Ancient: χρόνῳ m (khrónōi) Hungarian: végül (hu), végül is Ido: tandem (io) Indonesian: akhirnya (id), pada akhirnya Interlingua: finalmente, al fin Irish: i ndeireadh na dála Italian: alla fine, infine (it) Japanese: とうとう (tōtō), 結局 (ja) (けっきょく, kekkyoku), ついに (ja) (tsui-ni), 最終的に (ja) (さいしゅうてきに, saishūteki ni), やっと (yatto) Korean: 결국(結局) (ko) (gyeolguk) Latin: tandem Macedonian: на кра́јот (na krájot) Maori: nāwai, nāwai rā, nāwai rā, tāria te wā Norwegian: omsider Bokmål: til slutt, etter hvert (no) Nynorsk: til slutt Polish: w końcu (pl), wreszcie (pl) Portuguese: finalmente (pt), enfim (pt), no final das contas Romanian: în fine, la urma urmei, în cele din urmă Russian: в конце́ концо́в (ru) (v koncé koncóv), в коне́чном счёте (v konéčnom sčóte), в ито́ге (ru) (v itóge) Scottish Gaelic: aig a' cheann thall Serbo-Croatian: eventualno (sh), konačno (sh), na kraju, na koncu Spanish: al final, finalmente (es) Sranan Tongo: te fu kaba Swedish: så småningom (sv), slutligen (sv), till slut (sv) Turkish: sonunda (tr) Ukrainian: зре́штою (uk) (zréštoju) Vietnamese: cuối cùng (vi)

See also

• frequently
• one day
• some day
• sooner or later