terrestrial

adjective

ter·res·tri·al tə-ˈre-st(r)ē-əl

-ˈres-chəl,

-ˈresh-

Synonyms of terrestrial next

: of or relating to the earth or its inhabitants

terrestrial magnetism

: mundane in scope or character : prosaic

: of or relating to land as distinct from air or water

terrestrial transportation

b(1)

: living on or in or growing from land

terrestrial plants

terrestrial birds

(2)

: of or relating to terrestrial organisms

terrestrial habits

: belonging to the class of planets that are like the earth (as in density and silicate composition)

the terrestrial planets Mercury, Venus, and Mars

terrestrial noun

terrestrially adverb

Did you know?

Terrestrial might be a pretty down-to-earth word, but some of its relatives are out of this world. "Terrestrial" first appeared in English in the 15th century and derives from the Latin root terra, which means "earth." In the mid-1800s "extra-" was added to "terrestrial," giving us "extraterrestrial," an adjective that can be used to describe things (including science fiction creatures) that come from space. "Terrestrial" shares the "-al" suffix with "celestial," which was first used in the 14th century. Not surprisingly, "celestial" ("of or relating to the sky or visible heavens") traces back to the Latin for sky, "caelum."

Examples of terrestrial in a Sentence

The toad has terrestrial habits, spending most of its time on shore. scientists haven't even found all the terrestrial life on our planet

Recent Examples on the Web No one knows when the first terrestrial globe was created. —

Laurie Kellman, Quartz, 7 Apr. 2024 Numerous findings from the terrestrial sites further suggest the species established in North America as early as 1731. —

Lauren Leffer, Popular Science, 3 Apr. 2024 Mammals are not solely terrestrial; some are fully aquatic, including whales and dolphins, the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology reports. —

Olivia Munson, USA TODAY, 1 Apr. 2024 Share [Findings] Inland waters are emitting previously unaccounted-for levels of carbon dioxide, and freshwater insects are flourishing even as terrestrial insects are dying off. —

Rafil Kroll-Zaidi, Harper's Magazine, 27 Mar. 2024 Those restored marine ecosystems sequester carbon much more efficiently than what was there before, and much more efficiently than terrestrial ecosystems. —

Bianca Nogrady, WIRED, 19 Mar. 2024 But its service is currently slower than most terrestrial fiber networks, with average latencies (the time for data to travel between origin and destination) over 30 milliseconds at best, and double that at peak times. —

IEEE Spectrum, 13 Mar. 2024 This iteration of poly has an embarrassingly utopic bent, though somewhat deflated by the terrestrial pragmatism of scheduling and painstaking communication. —

TIME, 9 Feb. 2024 The bones of Megalosaurus, Benson says, come from rocks that formed in coastal habitats where the remains of terrestrial plants and animals were being washed into shallow water and preserved there, suggesting that the dinosaur lived nearby. —

Riley Black, Smithsonian Magazine, 8 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'terrestrial.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.