as in temporal
having to do with life on earth especially as opposed to that in heaven
a sermon against our obsession with earthly pursuits
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of earthly
In the album’s most beautiful moments, Triplin makes arpeggios sound like prancing through an earthly paradise and sands off juke’s rough edges to produce rhythms that seem to chug along in the margins of a daydreaming brain.
—
Kiana Mickles, Pitchfork, 5 Mar. 2026
But a battlefield promotion to Ayatollah was arranged, blending faith with politics in an exercise that critics said sullied both even before Khamenei reinforced his position by earthly means, elevating the IRGC.
—Karl Vick, Time, 28 Feb. 2026
The monkey and the lion have become Chinese emperors, Buddha’s earthly servants.
—Andrew Norman Wilson, Harpers Magazine, 24 Feb. 2026
Itsstark, alien landscape — with striking production design by the legendary Yoshirô Muraki (Ran, Kagemusha, Throne of Blood) — doesn’t feel earthly in any way, shape, or form.
—Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 16 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for earthly
Kiana Mickles, Pitchfork, 5 Mar. 2026
But a battlefield promotion to Ayatollah was arranged, blending faith with politics in an exercise that critics said sullied both even before Khamenei reinforced his position by earthly means, elevating the IRGC.
—Karl Vick, Time, 28 Feb. 2026
The monkey and the lion have become Chinese emperors, Buddha’s earthly servants.
—Andrew Norman Wilson, Harpers Magazine, 24 Feb. 2026
Itsstark, alien landscape — with striking production design by the legendary Yoshirô Muraki (Ran, Kagemusha, Throne of Blood) — doesn’t feel earthly in any way, shape, or form.
—Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 16 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for earthly
Recent Examples of Synonyms for earthly
Adjective
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The designer Jorge Ballina, whose work has not been previously seen at Lyric, imagines this location, both physical and temporal, as a portal drawn from traditional Day of the Dead iconography but also from the artwork of both Kahlo and Rivera.—
Chris Jones,
Chicago Tribune,
22 Mar. 2026
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Its lifeworld, its temporal and spatial perspective, contrasts with the human, rendering our characters as distant, as inanimate, as the stelae and sculptures that surround them.—
Ben Lerner,
The New York Review of Books,
19 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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Another busied himself writing and rewriting the mundane information on his slate.—
Taran Khan,
The Dial,
24 Mar. 2026
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Somehow, their mundane jobs always descend into surreal chaos, much to the annoyance of their boss and coworkers.—
Taijuan Moorman,
USA Today,
23 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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Svalbard polar bears have been getting fatter as sea-ice loss encourages their transition to terrestrial food sources.—
Rafil Kroll-Zaidi,
Harpers Magazine,
24 Mar. 2026
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Looking up at the night sky gives us a glimpse of the Universe beyond our terrestrial concerns.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
23 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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Roberts has heard a lot from his Gen-Z staff that 2026 is the analog year, meaning people are staying off their phones more, getting rid of social media and seeking out more physical media.—
Joseph Hernandez
March 28,
Kansas City Star,
28 Mar. 2026
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Most of the incidents had not resulted in physical injuries; in some cases, prosecutors charged people for assaulting agents with such weapons as a tambourine, an umbrella, and a Subway sandwich.—
Oriana van Praag,
New Yorker,
28 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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Regulators are trying to push drug development into a post-animal testing era.—
Meghana Keshavan,
STAT,
19 Mar. 2026
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In Oman, as across the Gulf, a top-tier camel is less animal than asset class: meticulously pedigreed, obsessively trained, and paraded before judges who score on everything from ear set to gait.—
Tanya Akim,
Forbes.com,
25 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Earthly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/earthly. Accessed 30 Mar. 2026.
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