terrestrial
pertaining to, consisting of, or representing the earth as distinct from other planets.
of or relating to land as distinct from water.
Botany.
growing on land; not aquatic.
growing in the ground; not epiphytic or aerial.
Zoology. living on or in the ground; not aquatic, arboreal, or aerial.
of or relating to the earth or this world; worldly; mundane.
an inhabitant of the earth, especially a human being.
Origin of terrestrial
1synonym study For terrestrial
Other words for terrestrial
Opposites for terrestrial
Other words from terrestrial
- ter·res·tri·al·ly, adverb
- non·ter·res·tri·al, adjective, noun
- pre·ter·res·tri·al, adjective
- su·per·ter·res·tri·al, adjective
- un·der·ter·res·tri·al, adjective
- un·ter·res·tri·al, adjective
Words Nearby terrestrial
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use terrestrial in a sentence
On Earth, all of those ingredients exist at terrestrial hot springs, home to some hardy creatures.
Life on Earth may have begun in hostile hot springs | Jack J. Lee | September 24, 2020 | Science NewsDeamer, a big proponent of hot springs as the source of life’s start, has shown that conditions at terrestrial hot springs can produce bubblelike vesicles, with an outer layer made up of lipids.
Life on Earth may have begun in hostile hot springs | Jack J. Lee | September 24, 2020 | Science NewsMicrosoft claims its server-holding cylinders will take less than 90 days to go from factory ship to operation, as compared to the average two years it takes to get a terrestrial data center up and running.
Microsoft Had a Crazy Idea to Put Servers Under Water—and It Totally Worked | Vanessa Bates Ramirez | September 17, 2020 | Singularity HubSecond, 40 percent of plastic waste is mismanaged — “5% ends up in ocean leakage, 22% in open burning, and 14% in terrestrial leakage,” the report says.
Big Oil’s hopes are pinned on plastics. It won’t end well. | David Roberts | September 4, 2020 | VoxThe theory, which appeared in May in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, doesn’t explain every step of how life acquired its current handedness, but it does assert that the shape of terrestrial DNA and RNA is no accident.
Cosmic Rays May Explain Life’s Bias for Right-Handed DNA | Charlie Wood | June 29, 2020 | Quanta Magazine
This is especially true of the ocean, where impacts are less obvious than for terrestrial systems.
‘Mission Blue’ Warning: The Ocean Is Not Too Big to Fail | Sylvia A. Earle | August 15, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTAs the critic Dave Hickey famously said, let art be “frivolous” enough to move us at a terrestrial level.
The license from 2005 for LightSquared was explicitly for phones that used both satellite and terrestrial networks.
In 2011 the FCC granted LightSquared a waiver to allow vendors using its proposed network to sell terrestrial-only cellphones.
“In January the commission said LightSquared could use its license for exclusive terrestrial purposes,” he said.
The epoch of your life upon the earth, even the duration of terrestrial humanity, is but a moment in eternity.
Urania | Camille Flammarion"Now let us return to the Earth," she said, pointing to the spot where our terrestrial Sun had disappeared.
Urania | Camille FlammarionIt is hardly more than a hundred thousand years since terrestrial humanity evolved itself from the animal chrysalis.
Urania | Camille FlammarionThe Uranian soul, even during its terrestrial incarnations, lives in the world of the absolute and divine.
Urania | Camille FlammarionThe elements of my Martial form do not exist in the terrestrial atmosphere, and your brain could not imagine them.
Urania | Camille Flammarion
British Dictionary definitions for terrestrial
/ (təˈrɛstrɪəl) /
of or relating to the earth
of or belonging to the land as opposed to the sea or air
(of animals and plants) living or growing on the land
earthly, worldly, or mundane
(of television signals) sent over the earth's surface from a transmitter on land, rather than by satellite
an inhabitant of the earth
Origin of terrestrial
1Derived forms of terrestrial
- terrestrially, adverb
- terrestrialness, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for terrestrial
[ tə-rĕs′trē-əl ]
Relating to Earth or its inhabitants.
Relating to, living on, or growing on land.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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