Copernican

American  

[koh-pur-ni-kuhn, kuh-] / koʊˈpɜr nɪ kən, kə- /

adjective

1. of or relating to Copernicus or his theories.

2. important and radically different; thoroughgoing.

   a Copernican revolution in modern art.

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Other Word Forms

• post-Copernican adjective
• pre-Copernican adjective

Etymology

Origin of Copernican

First recorded in 1660–70; Copernic(us) + -an

Example Sentences

The last of those, the Copernican, covers the last 1.1 billion years of history — long before mammals, let alone human beings, even existed.

From Salon

He imagines “a Copernican swerve in how we interact with nature,” one in which we come to imagine ourselves not as nature’s masters or stewards, but once again as part of its patterns and rhythms.

From Salon

Interestingly though, if a multiverse truly exists, it also suggests that Copernican cosmic humility can only be taken so far.

From Scientific American

So the multiverse is kind of a natural extrapolation of what we call the Copernican principle, which is that where we are and who we are and what we are shouldn’t be significant or aberrant.

From The Verge

But that assumes that an extraterrestrial civilization is at the same stage of technological development as we are, but the Copernican principle, which asserts that we aren’t special in any way, says otherwise.

From Scientific American