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PlainSpell

indefinitely

in·def·i·nite·ly/ɪnˈdɛfɪnɪtli/adverb

indefinitely is spelled I-N-D-E-F-I-N-I-T-E-L-Y, 5 syllables: in·def·i·nite·ly. The wrong spelling people search most is indefinately: about 160 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 26 of all searches for the word. Indefinitely is an adverb meaning “In a manner that is not definite”.

How many letters and syllables are in indefinitely?

Letters12: I-N-D-E-F-I-N-I-T-E-L-Y
Syllables5: in·def·i·nite·ly
In writing4.5 times per million words; the 12,045th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searched2; the most searched, indefinately, about 160 Bing searches a month (all of them)

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).

How do you spell indefinitely?

Indefinitely is spelled I-N-D-E-F-I-N-I-T-E-L-Y. 2 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 19 of the searches for indefinitely in either form.

indefinitelythe right spelling4,020 searches a month
indefinatelya in place of i160 searches a month
indefinitlya missing e60 searches a month

Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.

How common is indefinitely?

Indefinitely appears 4.5 times per million words in written English, the 12,045th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce indefinitely?

  • /ɪnˈdɛfɪnɪtli/

Indefinitely has 5 syllables, split in·def·i·nite·ly in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-indefinitely.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What does indefinitely mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adverb

  1. 1

    In a manner that is not definite.

    an indefinitely determined fossil

  2. 2

    For a long time, with no defined end.

  3. 3

    Forever.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Indefinitely in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchindéfiniment (for a long time, no end defined), infiniment (forever)
Germanunbegrenzt (for a long time, no end defined)
Portugueseindefinidamente (for a long time, no end defined)
Spanishindefinidamente (for a long time, no end defined)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does indefinitely come from?

From indefinite + -ly.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after indefinitely