Definition: Existing everywhere at once; always present; widely distributed.

Etymology: In 1830, ubiquitous was first recorded in print. The term ubiquity was first used in print in the late 16th century, while ubiquitous didn’t surface until 1830.

It comes from the Latin word ubique, which means “everywhere.” (There is another noun form, ubiquitousness, which was invented around 1874.) Both words derive from the Latin word for “everywhere,” which is ubique. It seems that ubiquitous has become a more widely used and popular term than ubiquity now that it is often used with a touch of exaggeration for things and people that are everywhere.

In a Sentence

The pollutants are ubiquitous and persistent.

Mosses covering the ground ubiquitously, of the variety of shapes and shades from white and cream reindeer moss to dark green and brown peat moss, peppered in the brief summer by heavy blossoms on thin stalks, are remarkable.

These patterns are ubiquitous in the high-end fashion world.