as in soil
the solid part of our planet's surface as distinguished from the sea and air after that nightmarish storm, the sailors were grateful to reach terra firma

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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 terra firma And boy did the terrain change while crawling up, along, and down steep unpaved terra firma. Peter Nelson, Forbes.com, 4 June 2025 Helium-3 is rare on terra firma, but is thought to be abundant in the regolith of the Moon. Paul Ridden may 27, New Atlas, 27 May 2025 Sydney Chandler, daughter of Kyle Chandler, stars as a young woman who must respond when a spacecraft carrying the deadliest being in the galaxy crash-lands on terra firma. Ben Rosenstock, Vulture, 19 May 2025 That moment when your foot finally hits terra firma after your body’s been through a spin cycle? Allison Morrow, CNN, 4 Sep. 2024 See All Example Sentences for terra firma
Recent Examples of Synonyms for terra firma
Noun
  • On the other hand, overly wet soil can also impact flowering.
    Kim Toscano, Southern Living, 1 Oct. 2025
  • Gravel, clay, and sandy soils react very differently under sudden energy input, and the presence of water and air further alters behaviour.
    Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 1 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • Most migrating birds depart in the evening, fly through the night, and land by sunrise.
    Brandi D. Addison, The Providence Journal, 29 Sep. 2025
  • In a year when the question of universal freedom still feels contested, The Gettin’ lands as both memorial and mirror, recalling the losses named in 2014 and 2020 and implicating the present tense.
    Skylar Mitchell, Essence, 29 Sep. 2025
Noun
  • The National Endowment for Humanities, another federal agency that funds museum programs, has singled out grants related to DEI as grounds for termination.
    Jacqui Palumbo, CNN Money, 28 Sep. 2025
  • Pulling shots of espresso involves a flash method of expressing steam through grounds for a highly concentrated form of coffee.
    Lyndsay C. Green, Freep.com, 28 Sep. 2025
Noun
  • But as the Department of Defense moved hundreds of men and children through CIA black sites and military bases across the Middle East and South Asia, that type of stateless, legal vacuousness did not exist on this earth’s surface.
    Miriam Pensack, The Dial, 30 Sep. 2025
  • Nearly two-thirds of dysprosium and terbium, two key rare-earth elements, come from northern Myanmar.
    Dan Swift, Foreign Affairs, 30 Sep. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Terra firma.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/terra%20firma. Accessed 4 Oct. 2025.

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