eventual
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
happening at the end of a long period of time or a complicated process.
occurring at the end of a process or period of time; often used to describe a result that was expected or inevitable.
Simple“After many delays, the eventual opening of the new bridge was a huge relief.”
In context“Despite the initial setbacks and funding gaps, the eventual success of the research project proved the validity of the team's original hypothesis.”
UsageThis adjective is non-gradable and almost always appears before the noun it describes.
Teacher's tipThis is a major false friend for speakers of Germanic and Romance languages, who often use it to mean 'possible' or 'perhaps'. Emphasize that in English, it implies the event definitely happened or will happen.
PitfallThe eventual success of the project is possible. The potential success of the project is possible.In English, 'eventual' means something will definitely happen at the end. It is a false friend with words in other languages (like 'eventuell') that mean 'possible'.
Synonyms
“She advanced to the quarter-finals of the Australian Open in Melbourne in January but was beaten by eventual champion Rybakina.”
“However, their eventual impact on Egypt and Sudan will depend on what Ethiopia builds and how the facilities are operated.”
From event + -ual; compare French éventuel. The third sense is influenced by any of several European languages, including German eventuell, French éventuel, Italian eventuale, Spanish eventual, Swedish eventuell.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.