as in celestial
of, relating to, or suggesting heaven
movie scenes set in heaven often suggest that harps are the favored instruments for empyrean music
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
as in sky
a dwelling place of perfect happiness for the soul after death
ascended into the empyrean after a life filled with good deeds
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in utopia
an often imaginary place or state of utter perfection and happiness
most ticket buyers have no trouble envisioning the empyrean that winning the lottery would inevitably bring about
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of empyrean
Judith Shulevitz, The Atlantic, 14 Jan. 2025
Larraín’s third subject, Maria Callas, despite being born to an ignoble family and having to face wartime poverty during the 1940s, was no stranger to the trappings of an empyrean existence, but in constantly having to live up to it, like Diana, her life met an untimely end.
—Harrison Richlin, IndieWire, 15 Dec. 2024
The event, held high up in skyscraping event venue Glasshouse Chelsea, offered sweeping vista views of the Manhattan and New Jersey skylines meant to evoke the game’s new empyrean setting.
—Christopher Cruz, Rolling Stone, 26 Apr. 2023
At their best, Harjo’s poems inform each other, linking her different modes, facilitating her tendency to zoom from a personal experience to a more empyrean one.
—Maya Phillips, The New Yorker, 29 Aug. 2019
Louis leaves Prior, drawing the first line in a pattern of abandonment that informs the entire play, and finally stretches all the way into the empyrean kingdom of an absent God.
—Ben Brantley, New York Times, 25 Mar. 2018
Our badges looked different, we were afforded fewer privileges, and we were certainly kept in the dark about The Algorithm (pause for heavenly-choir noise effect) and other such empyrean secrets.
—Lucas Peterson, GQ, 22 May 2017
Mitch Therieau, New Yorker, 27 Mar. 2026
Betts is part of the Sox Sensation club with Fred Lynn and Nomar Garciaparra, all wildly popular and productive players who turned out to be supernovas streaking across the Boston baseball empyrean instead of franchise polestars.
—Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 18 July 2022
Magical empyrean is mundane Earth.
—Los Angeles Times, 4 May 2022
They are concealed in the empyrean.
—Frank Wilczek, WSJ, 14 Oct. 2021
O’Keeffe places the viewer aloft, level with the bone, high up in the empyrean.
—Roxana Robinson, The New Yorker, 11 Oct. 2021
That could quickly propel a few black schools into the athletic empyrean, and change the place of HBCUs in American culture.
—Jemele Hill, The Atlantic, 5 Sep. 2019
Adjective
In October, with three more of her novels now available in English and at least 20 other languages, the Swedish Academy awarded Han the Nobel Prize, elevating her to the empyrean realm reserved for writers of what is sometimes called world literature.
—Judith Shulevitz, The Atlantic, 14 Jan. 2025
Larraín’s third subject, Maria Callas, despite being born to an ignoble family and having to face wartime poverty during the 1940s, was no stranger to the trappings of an empyrean existence, but in constantly having to live up to it, like Diana, her life met an untimely end.
—Harrison Richlin, IndieWire, 15 Dec. 2024
The event, held high up in skyscraping event venue Glasshouse Chelsea, offered sweeping vista views of the Manhattan and New Jersey skylines meant to evoke the game’s new empyrean setting.
—Christopher Cruz, Rolling Stone, 26 Apr. 2023
At their best, Harjo’s poems inform each other, linking her different modes, facilitating her tendency to zoom from a personal experience to a more empyrean one.
—Maya Phillips, The New Yorker, 29 Aug. 2019
Louis leaves Prior, drawing the first line in a pattern of abandonment that informs the entire play, and finally stretches all the way into the empyrean kingdom of an absent God.
—Ben Brantley, New York Times, 25 Mar. 2018
Our badges looked different, we were afforded fewer privileges, and we were certainly kept in the dark about The Algorithm (pause for heavenly-choir noise effect) and other such empyrean secrets.
—Lucas Peterson, GQ, 22 May 2017
Noun
Photograph courtesy Netflix At the very top level of the pop-music empyrean, where the K-pop group BTS surely resides, an album release is never just an album release.
—Mitch Therieau, New Yorker, 27 Mar. 2026
Betts is part of the Sox Sensation club with Fred Lynn and Nomar Garciaparra, all wildly popular and productive players who turned out to be supernovas streaking across the Boston baseball empyrean instead of franchise polestars.
—Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 18 July 2022
Magical empyrean is mundane Earth.
—Los Angeles Times, 4 May 2022
They are concealed in the empyrean.
—Frank Wilczek, WSJ, 14 Oct. 2021
O’Keeffe places the viewer aloft, level with the bone, high up in the empyrean.
—Roxana Robinson, The New Yorker, 11 Oct. 2021
That could quickly propel a few black schools into the athletic empyrean, and change the place of HBCUs in American culture.
—Jemele Hill, The Atlantic, 5 Sep. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for empyrean
Adjective
-
Not only is Earth's celestial neighbor a pristine time capsule ripe for study – preserved almost unaltered throughout the course of billions of years – but the moon is viewed as a stepping stone for human exploration deeper into space.—
Eric Lagatta,
USA Today,
9 June 2026
-
This dazzling celestial object, dubbed the Crystal Ball Nebula, lies about 1,500 light-years from Earth in the Taurus constellation.—
Daniel Wine,
CNN Money,
9 June 2026
Noun
-
There’s a chance that the aurora borealis will appear in the sky above Idaho’s capital city on Thursday, June 4, according to the National Weather Service.—
Darin Oswald,
Idaho Statesman,
5 June 2026
-
Locals and tourists alike often flock to Mallory Square to watch the sky turn into a fire before dark.—
Stacey Leasca,
Travel + Leisure,
4 June 2026
Noun
-
Evolution of Cyberculture Studies The first cyberculture studies were divided into dystopias and utopias and were anchored to science fiction.—
Paulo Nuno VicenteAll,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
26 May 2026
-
The pope’s text outlines an approach to AI which neither rejects the opportunities offered by the technology, nor sees it as opening a utopia-style future.—
Christopher Lamb,
CNN Money,
25 May 2026
Adjective
-
Blue chrome powder takes this dreamy look into heavenly territory.—
Kara Jillian Brown,
InStyle,
23 May 2026
-
My Costa Rican Hammam Experience included a vigorous scrub-down on a marble slab in the steamy hammam that used a Costa Rican coffee bean exfoliator for a local twist, followed by a heavenly massage.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
16 May 2026
Noun
-
None of this is to suggest Brisbane is a utopian fantasy of domestic bliss.—
Alli Forde,
Travel + Leisure,
8 June 2026
-
Land, a new novel by the Hamnet author Maggie O’Farrell, showcases her genius for infusing painful stories with flashes of pure bliss, Hillary Kelly writes.—
Will Gottsegen,
The Atlantic,
6 June 2026
Noun
-
Little scientific work was completed in Glen Canyon before the federal government flooded it — an event seen by environmentalists then, and now, as an unmitigated ecological disaster, a paradise lost.—
Elise Schmelzer,
Denver Post,
7 June 2026
-
But even in good years, Colorado isn't exactly a typical grower's paradise like the Eastern United States or the Midwest.—
Michael Abeyta,
CBS News,
6 June 2026
Noun
-
His heart and hope lie inside a grey warehouse a few miles from Highway 34 in Weld County, his heaven a canvas of black netting and neon-green paint.—
Sean Keeler,
Denver Post,
6 June 2026
-
Yes, the summer festival season is here (thank heavens).—
Randy McMullen,
Mercury News,
28 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Empyrean.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/empyrean. Accessed 11 Jun. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
