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Insatiable means can never be satisfied, sort of like a sink that can never be filled.

Whats the word for a never ending source?

e.g. My source of funding is [Missing word goes here].

While we are at it, what word should I have used in place of opposite?. (Since the opposite of insatiable is of course satiable).

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Your second sentence is right for the title. Please edit the title. – Kris Feb 9 '12 at 8:15

7 Answers

up vote 6 down vote accepted

Inexhaustible (as in "an inexhaustible supply") is the converse of insatiable.

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Is complement preferred to converse as per Wallaces answer? – artfullyContrived Feb 9 '12 at 12:40
@artfullyContrived I think Wallace's word (complement) is better than converse, so I've change my answer accordingly. – Pitarou Feb 9 '12 at 13:31
No it isn't. Inexhaustible is the converse of exhaustible. Thus it means there's so much of something that it will never run out, whereas insatiable means "incapable of being satiated" (satisfied). With the implication that no amount of whatever is being consumed will be enough to satisfy, even an inexhaustible supply. – FumbleFingers Feb 9 '12 at 18:46
When I was in High School math I was taught that a "converse" is what you get by switching the condition and the conclusion of a proposition, like if we start with A implies B then the converse is B implies A. Like, if we start with, "All Ruritanians are ugly", the converse would be "All ugly people are Ruritanians". Maybe that's a math-specific definition. – Jay Feb 10 '12 at 4:49
Yes, that's a math & logic specific definition. – Pitarou Feb 10 '12 at 6:13
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up vote 2 down vote

The usual word to "use in place of opposite" when speaking of words is antonym, "A word which has the opposite meaning of another, although not necessarily in all its senses."

Regarding an antonym of insatiable, satiable is indeed a word, and per wiktionary it means

Capable of being sated, satisfiable. (eg) The god's demand for blood was satiable only by the sacrifice of a virgin.

However, satiable does not fit appropriately into your example sentence; instead try a word like bottomless, endless, unfathomed, bountiful, or overflowing or previously-suggested inexhaustible if you mean that your funding will never run out.

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The questioner is not looking for a synonym of opposite. He is looking for a word that describes the relationship between insatiable and inexhaustible. – Pitarou Feb 9 '12 at 13:37
@jwpat Yes, Pitarou got it right. – artfullyContrived Feb 10 '12 at 7:04
up vote 1 down vote

The answers to your two questions are "never-ending" and "converse", respectively.

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2  
I've combined the best part of your answer (converse) with the best part of mine (inexhaustible). Apologies for stealing your thunder, but it's a brutal dog eat dog world here on StackExchange. – Pitarou Feb 9 '12 at 13:35
@davidwallace. You still get my up vote though. – artfullyContrived Feb 10 '12 at 7:05
up vote 0 down vote

Inexhaustible: cannot be entirely consumed or used up.

an inexhaustible supply of coal

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up vote 0 down vote

It looks like you're fishing for an adjective, but a noun might also fill the bill. At least, in Physics, the term "reservoir" (as in "heat reservoir") is often used in this sense of "an inexhaustible source".

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up vote 0 down vote

If insatiable means "I am unable to be satisfied", then the converse would be "Things are unable to satisfy me". Those things might be described as inadequate. If you're looking for a never ending source, then you're looking for the counterpart or complement to something insatiable.

I would further add that insatiability has an element of excess. You can't get enough. So the counterpart would have to have a similar extreme, being more than you need, not simply all that you need.

I also think perfectly insatiable and never-ending, can't exist together, much like immovable objects and unstoppable forces.

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up vote 0 down vote

You could describe your source of funding as infinite:

limitless or endless in space, extent, or size; impossible to measure or calculate

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