1
as in temporal
having to do with life on earth especially as opposed to that in heaven
scientists haven't even found all the terrestrial life on our planet
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in mundane
having to do with the practical details of regular life
let's focus on terrestrial issues—such as how to pay the bills
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of terrestrial
Like terrestrial plants, sargassum needs nitrogen, phosphorus and other nutrients.
—
Bill Kearney, Sun Sentinel, 14 Jan. 2026
Howard Stern, then a rising shock jock on terrestrial radio, went all in, calling for Goetz to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.
—Adam Gopnik, New Yorker, 12 Jan. 2026
The five million gallons of water a terrestrial data center uses for cooling does not come cheap either.
—Jeffrey Kluger, Time, 7 Jan. 2026
The other factor is the origin of the organic material itself—marine plants are more likely to become oil, whereas terrestrial plants are more likely to become gas.
—Meghan Bartels, Scientific American, 7 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for terrestrial
Bill Kearney, Sun Sentinel, 14 Jan. 2026
Howard Stern, then a rising shock jock on terrestrial radio, went all in, calling for Goetz to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.
—Adam Gopnik, New Yorker, 12 Jan. 2026
The five million gallons of water a terrestrial data center uses for cooling does not come cheap either.
—Jeffrey Kluger, Time, 7 Jan. 2026
The other factor is the origin of the organic material itself—marine plants are more likely to become oil, whereas terrestrial plants are more likely to become gas.
—Meghan Bartels, Scientific American, 7 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for terrestrial
Recent Examples of Synonyms for terrestrial
Adjective
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In this example the information is temporal, slight, and of little broad use.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
23 Jan. 2026
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It’s shaped around facial proportions, temporal corners, and the way hair naturally grows.—
Wyles Daniel,
USA Today,
20 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Last spring, my colleague Elaine Godfrey wrote about finding joy in mundane places.—
Isabel Fattal,
The Atlantic,
24 Jan. 2026
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Product breadth is huge, some customer tasks may be highly technical, others mundane but requiring accuracy, and others still are more about look and feel.—
Mark Faithfull,
Forbes.com,
22 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Possession of a Starlink terminal now carries the threat of a prison sentence, and there have been reports of a physical crackdown on homes and rooftops where satellite receivers have been spotted.—
Lauren Kent,
CNN Money,
30 Jan. 2026
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Anything that would jeopardize an active federal investigation, and finally, anything that depicts or contain images of death, physical abuse or injury also not produced.—
Rachel Wolf,
FOXNews.com,
30 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Rolling vineyards, medieval hill towns and a deep food culture define this peninsula, where truffles, olive oil and wine are central to everyday life.—
Laura Begley Bloom,
Forbes.com,
29 Jan. 2026
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What surprised him most was how often that same feeling appears in everyday life.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
29 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Not quite plant, not quite animal; delicious and wild and rare.—
Callie Sumlin,
Bon Appetit Magazine,
15 Oct. 2025
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Perhaps unsurprisingly, dogs were more likely to respond to animal stimuli than to non-animal stimuli.—
Margherita Bassi,
Smithsonian Magazine,
21 July 2025
Adjective
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For reasons still not wholly understood, these ultradense objects—each about the mass of our star squeezed into a bizarre, city-sized ball of degenerate quantum matter—undergo starquakes in which the material on the surface shifts a bit like in an earthly tremor.—
Phil Plait,
Scientific American,
22 Jan. 2026
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Other earthly assets are protected in other ways.—
Jeffrey Kluger,
Time,
20 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Terrestrial.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/terrestrial. Accessed 1 Feb. 2026.
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