eon
Americannoun
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an indefinitely long period of time; age.
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the largest division of geologic time, comprising two or more eras.
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Astronomy. one billion years.
noun
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the usual US spelling of aeon
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geology the longest division of geological time, comprising two or more eras
Usage
What does eon mean? Eon is commonly used in a general way to refer to an indefinitely long period of time. Outside of science, people usually use eon as a way to exaggerate how long something took to happen or how long something lasted.In the context of geology, eon refers to the largest division of geological time. Technically speaking, an eon is made up of two or more eras, which consist of several periods, which are divided into epochs.All of these units of time vary as to their exact length, but most consist of at least millions of years, with eons lasting billions or hundreds of millions of years.In the context of astronomy, an eon is one billion years.Example: It took me eons to get a straight answer as to how long an eon actually is.
Etymology
Origin of eon
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Their offspring range from 6 months to 26 years old—eons in AI terms.
What meaning did individual human life have in a vast universe that had existed for incalculable eons?
For eons, most investors treated hot stocks the same way.
From Barron's
“We’ve had multiracial relationships in our family for eons,” she says.
From Los Angeles Times
The dot-com bubble was nearing its peak 26 years ago, and on Wall Street, where most careers are not even measured in decades, that’s eons ago.
From MarketWatch
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
