adjective
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of or characteristic of the earth as opposed to heaven; material or materialistic; worldly
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informal (usually used with a negative) conceivable or possible; feasible (in such phrases as not an earthly ( chance ), etc)
Synonym Usage
Earthly, terrestrial, worldly, mundane refer to that which is concerned with the earth literally or figuratively. Earthly now almost always implies a contrast to that which is heavenly: earthly pleasures; our earthly home. Terrestrial, from Latin, is the dignified equivalent of earthly, and it applies to the earth as a planet or to the land as opposed to the water: the terrestrial globe; terrestrial areas. Worldly is commonly used in the sense of being devoted to the vanities, cares, advantages, or gains of this present life to the exclusion of spiritual interests or the life to come: worldly success; worldly standards. Mundane, from Latin, is a formal equivalent of worldly and suggests that which is bound to the earth, is not exalted, and therefore is commonplace: mundane pursuits.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of earthly
First recorded before 1000; Middle English erth(e)ly, Old English eorthlīc. See earth, -ly
Explanation
If you believe in an afterlife, you probably realize that making lots of money is only an earthly concern, and not something that matters in heaven. Religious believers make the distinction between earthly problems and things that are far more important in the long term. Usually, these earthly worries have to do with material things, like jobs, money, cars, and houses — rather than spiritual concerns like love, faith, and beauty. The word earth is at the root of earthly, and you can think of it as "things that only matter to humans on the Earth."
Vocabulary lists containing earthly
Obama's speech at Connecticut vigil
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
José Rivera’s “Marisol” came out around the same time as Tony Kushner’s “Angels in America,” and both plays, vibrating with millennial anxieties, carry the earthly battle for human survival up to the heavens.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026
"Good morning, my people. I regret to inform you of the departure of my son Prichard from this earthly world," Richard Colon wrote on Facebook.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
And its celestial allusions reflect the nation’s expanded focus, the fact that by this time Americans’ ambitions had moved beyond their earthly realm to settle upon the stars.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
It may feel like a medical miracle, but there’s a more earthly explanation.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 23, 2026
Of all earthly pleasures, Laila’s favorite was lying next to Aziza, her baby’s face so close that she could watch her big pupils dilate and shrink.
From "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini
Tempest, Act V. "But earthlier happy is the rose distill'd."
From The Grammar of English Grammars by Goold Brown
Her heart exulted, while it trembled, at his honorable love—so pure and lofty that it would accept nothing less than perfection nor miserably make itself contented with an earthlier nature than he had dreamed of.
From Mosses from an Old Manse and other stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Her heart exulted, while it trembled, at his honorable love,—so pure and lofty that it would accept nothing less than perfection nor miserably make itself contented with an earthlier nature than he had dreamed of.
From Stories of Mystery by Rossiter Johnson
Compassion, divine compassion, mastered the earthlier emotion of terror in the great heart of the woman who loved him.
From Blind Love by Wilkie Collins
I thought, too, that she only lingered here, till my earthlier soul should be purified for heaven.
From Other Tales and Sketches (From: "The Doliver Romance and Other Pieces: Tales and Sketches") by Nathaniel Hawthorne
But the moon still revolveth around all that is earthly: so revolveth also the prince around what is earthliest of all—that, however, is the gold of the shopman.
From Thus Spake Zarathustra A book for all and none by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
