earthshaking

adjective

earth·​shak·​ing ˈərth-ˌshā-kiŋ How to pronounce earthshaking (audio)
: of great importance : momentous
an earthshaking announcement
earthshakingly adverb

Examples of earthshaking in a Sentence

earthshaking news—the President has been assassinated
Recent Examples on the Web This call, the last time the founders would address their company, was an earthshaking moment for a workplace whose leaders inspired so much loyalty that several employees shared matching tattoos with Olguin. Reis Thebault, Washington Post, 19 July 2023 It also should be said that the $85 million value of the missing parts matches the price to procure one F-35A fighter—obviously an important sum, but not an earthshaking loss. Sébastien Roblin, Popular Mechanics, 8 June 2023 Overall length is down 0.8 inch; that's as earthshaking as the differences get. Patrick Bedard, Car and Driver, 1 June 2023 Other nominees included Mary J. Blige, who gave an earthshaking performance during the main broadcast, PJ Morton, and Lucky Daye. Jonah Valdezstaff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 6 Feb. 2023 Like Swift, Stevenson wasn’t arguing for the actual feasibility of his idea; the paper was a thought experiment, an exercise to show the literally earthshaking scale of effort that would be needed to probe deep into the planet. Tim Folger, Discover Magazine, 13 July 2014 Few people alive today can fully appreciate the earthshaking importance of Alexander Fleming’s 1928 discovery of penicillin. Christian Millman, Discover Magazine, 23 Oct. 2019 Which may not seem like an earthshaking sum of money over a decade and a half. Deborah Vankinstaff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 20 Dec. 2022 The convergence is a reminder of just how earthshaking #MeToo was for Hollywood. Brooks Barnes, New York Times, 24 Oct. 2022

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'earthshaking.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1835, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of earthshaking was in 1835

Dictionary Entries Near earthshaking

Cite this Entry

“Earthshaking.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/earthshaking. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

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