Unlimited

How to spell unlimited

9 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce unlimited

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does unlimited mean?

1. adjectiveWithout any restriction in amount, number, or extent.

Unlimited in a sentence

• The premium plan offers unlimited data every month.

• Her new contract gives her unlimited access to the research archive.

Where does unlimited come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word is built from the negative prefix un-, an old Germanic element meaning 'not', attached to 'limit'. The noun and verb 'limit' came into English in the late 1300s from the Latin limes, the genitive of which is limitis, a word that named a boundary, a path, or the edge of a field, and later the fortified frontier of the Roman Empire. The same Latin root gives us 'limitation' and the geographical 'limes'. By adding the everyday English -ed ending, speakers formed the adjective 'limited' for something bounded, and the prefix un- then reverses it to describe something without any boundary at all. The construction is regular and transparent, so the only real spelling care is remembering the single 'l' and single 'm' in the middle, not a doubled consonant.

How the word is built

• un- (not)
• limit (boundary, from Latin limes 'border')
• -ed (adjective suffix)