extraterrestrial

1 of 2

adjective

ex·​tra·​ter·​res·​tri·​al ˌek-strə-tə-ˈre-strē-əl 

-ˈres-chəl, 

-ˈresh-chəl

: originating, existing, or occurring outside the earth or its atmosphere

extraterrestrial life

extraterrestrial

2 of 2

noun

: a being from another world : an extraterrestrial being

Examples of extraterrestrial in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

As these isotope signatures have remained unchanged for billions of years, the findings prove that extraterrestrial organic matter shares a direct, uninterrupted connection to the cosmic environment where the Solar System was born. — Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 22 Sep. 2026

And while SpaceX's extraterrestrial ambitions have historically most excited investors, the company said itself in its IPO filing that 93% of its total addressable market is the type of AI products that LLMs provide exposure to. — Zev Fima, CNBC, 9 Sep. 2026

Noun

There, the discovery of a spacecraft and additional extraterrestrials transforms their chase into a simple struggle for survival, as what began as a series of understandable misjudgments spirals into a tragedy of cosmic scale. — Patrick Brzeski, HollywoodReporter, 16 Sep. 2026

This has coincided with a widespread belief that humans will inevitably confirm that extraterrestrials exist. — The New Yorker, New Yorker, 7 Sep. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

Adjective

1848, in the meaning defined above

Noun

1950, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for extraterrestrial

• estriol
• terrestrial

Kids Definition

extraterrestrial

adjective

ex·​tra·​ter·​res·​tri·​al

ˌek-strə-tə-ˈres-trē-əl

: coming from or existing outside the earth or its atmosphere

extraterrestrial life

extraterrestrial noun