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Synonym Chooser

How is the word mundane distinct from other similar adjectives?

The words earthly and worldly are common synonyms of mundane. While all three words mean "belonging to or characteristic of the earth," mundane suggests reference to the immediate and practical.

a mundane discussion of finances

In what contexts can earthly take the place of mundane?

While in some cases nearly identical to mundane, earthly often implies a contrast with what is heavenly or spiritual.

abandoned earthly concerns and entered a convent

How are the words worldly and mundane related?

Worldly and mundane both imply a relation to the immediate concerns and activities of human beings, worldly suggesting tangible personal gain or gratification.

worldly goods

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 mundane In the same scroll, you can be confronted by images of life’s mundane ephemera and others of war and suffering. Kristen Tauer, Footwear News, 6 Sep. 2025 Reference is made to Thida as next becoming a guardian of another space, an otherworldly being who remains in this world in human form, but these conversations don’t feel anything but ordinary and mundane. Blake Simons, IndieWire, 6 Sep. 2025 So often in life, the mundane and the extraordinary exist side-by-side. Issy Ronald, CNN Money, 6 Sep. 2025 Planetary scientists point out the mundane explanation. Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 4 Sep. 2025 See All Example Sentences for mundane
Recent Examples of Synonyms for mundane
Adjective
  • Handmade with a solid wood frame, it’s built for everyday use while still feeling luxe.
    Jacqueline Tempera, PEOPLE, 5 Sep. 2025
  • Not your everyday anxiety Generalized anxiety disorder involves extreme worry or dread that interferes with a person's ability to function.
    Jon Hamilton, NPR, 5 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • Context requires holding multiple layers of reality simultaneously—the organizational politics, cultural dynamics, personal histories, and temporal factors that shape every interaction.
    Michael Hudson, Forbes.com, 28 Aug. 2025
  • This pair of daring temporal adventurers makes hops, skips, and jumps along the time stream with Sam popping up randomly into different bodies throughout history.
    Jeff Spry, Space.com, 24 Aug. 2025
Adjective
  • Stern, who is 71, first signed with Sirius in 2004 (prior to its merger with XM), in part to be free of oversight by the FCC, which had levied millions of dollars in fines on terrestrial radio stations that carried his show for alleged indecency.
    Todd Spangler, Variety, 4 Sep. 2025
  • The ideal case would be to find a terrestrial meteorite containing organic molecules, or conceivably micro-fossils, from a time that Earth’s own geological record has not preserved, says Crawford.
    Bruce Dorminey, Forbes.com, 2 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • The iPhone 17 is set to be the fourth gen of Apple smartphones without a physical SIM card slot in the US.
    PC Magazine, PC Magazine, 8 Sep. 2025
  • Even today, thousands of its physical records are stored in former limestone mines in Missouri and Pennsylvania.
    Eli Hager, ProPublica, 8 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • In 2022, the FDA Modernization Act 2.0 paved the way for alternatives to animal testing, and in December 2023, an NIH advisory committee made similar recommendations to develop non-animal methods.
    Rachel Fobar, Vox, 14 May 2025
  • Rendering is a process that transforms animal by-products, like leftover meat and fats...and yes, chicken feet, into usable materials, such as animal feed, fuel, and other industrial products.
    Phil Kafarakis, Forbes.com, 1 May 2025
Adjective
  • As geologists were realizing that earthly timescales were vast, astronomers began to discover that the same applied to the distances of the cosmos.
    Big Think, Big Think, 9 Sep. 2025
  • It was once widely believed throughout Europe that stars produced an ethereal fluid that somehow influenced earthly affairs.
    Martha Barnette August 6, Literary Hub, 6 Aug. 2025
Adjective
  • The virus, which is spread by bodily fluids, is endemic in animal populations in Central and West Africa, and there are periodic outbreaks.
    Ben Smith, semafor.com, 8 Sep. 2025
  • Chernyak, who came to the US last August, was arrested in January and charged with battery with bodily harm over what his common-law wife Oksana Tarasiuk told CNN was a misunderstanding exacerbated by a language barrier with police officers.
    Isabelle Chapman, CNN Money, 8 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • In addition to being a formidable businessman, Armani is credited with breathing new life into menswear and creating a new system of dressing for women, marrying Italian leggerezza with worldly references (China was a frequent reference point) and becoming synonymous with timeless elegance.
    Nicole Hoey, Robb Report, 4 Sep. 2025
  • Shannon McLaren infuses her fashion experience and worldly perspective into Prairie Interiors, her Newport Beach firm.
    Elizabeth Stamp, Architectural Digest, 3 Sep. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Mundane.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mundane. Accessed 12 Sep. 2025.

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