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
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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
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Example Sentences
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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
-
Onlookers in the Northern Hemisphere will get the best chance to view the celestial show from Tuesday night until dawn Wednesday morning, according to EarthSky.—
Avni Trivedi,
CNN Money,
21 Apr. 2026
-
There is no room for small talk or anything surface-level during this celestial exchange.—
Valerie Mesa,
PEOPLE,
17 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Not everybody thinks the sky is falling.—
Mike McFeely,
Twin Cities,
24 Apr. 2026
-
When the drizzle calls for noodles, Yoroshiku delivers a steaming bowl of ramen that pairs perfectly with gray skies.—
Lauren Schuster,
Miami Herald,
23 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
The utopia was temporary, its beauty and its small victories whittled away by the scythe of inaction.—
Hanif Abdurraqib,
New Yorker,
17 Apr. 2026
-
Moursi traces the notion of islands as utopias to Plato’s description of Atlantis, written around 360 BCE.—
Livia Gershon,
JSTOR Daily,
14 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
This heavenly spin on tiramisu is ideal for spring.—
Lisa Cericola,
Southern Living,
22 Apr. 2026
-
That’s to say, there’s earthly authority and there’s heavenly authority.—
The Editorial Board,
Chicago Tribune,
14 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Most of the love stories that do make it to the big screen still generally follow broad, conventional strokes, capturing the bliss of coupling up or the blues of falling apart.—
Shirley Li,
The Atlantic,
8 Apr. 2026
-
Juvenile bliss had long contoured this abrasive band, whose songs rattled like playgrounds, and whose shouts rang like the peals of petulant children.—
Samuel Hyland,
Pitchfork,
17 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
UnCruise offers energetic travelers a way to explore this tropical paradise.—
Allison Tibaldi,
USA Today,
18 Apr. 2026
-
And yet, Steubenville has also quietly emerged as a paradise for big Catholic families.—
Emma Green,
New Yorker,
17 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
In Catholic theology, purgatory is the in-between—not heaven, not hell, but a passage of purification before something better.—
Geoff Curtis,
Fortune,
6 Apr. 2026
-
In an interview ahead of Palm Sunday, senior pastor Robert Jeffress reflected on specific scripture that says the whole world will burn someday, but there will be a new heaven and a new earth with Christ.—
Dallas Morning News,
Dallas Morning News,
29 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Empyrean.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/empyrean. Accessed 27 Apr. 2026.
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