empyreal
Americanadjective
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pertaining to the highest heaven in the cosmology of the ancients.
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pertaining to the sky; celestial.
empyreal blue.
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formed of pure fire or light.
empyreal radiance.
Etymology
Origin of empyreal
1475–85; < Late Latin empyre ( us ), variant of empyrius (< Greek empýrios fiery, equivalent to em- em- 2 + pŷr fire + -ios adj. suffix) + -al 1
Explanation
Things that are empyreal have something to do with the sky. You might enthusiastically describe a beautiful sunset over the ocean as "an empyreal spectacle." The adjective empyreal isn't used very often, aside from poetic and religious writing. You might come across it in a poem, describing the summer sky in flowery terms, or in a more devout context to mean "heavenly." If you read the phrase "empyreal realm," it either means a divine paradise or a beautiful, awe-inspiring sky. The word empyrean is also correct, and both forms of the word come from the Greek root empyros, or "fiery."
Vocabulary lists containing empyreal
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.
She has conjured up the Pharaonic funk and empyreal jazz of George Clinton and Sun Ra.
From New York Times • Apr. 16, 2023
For those with merely several hundred dollars to spend creating ice, a small unit from G.E. presents its cache of frozen water as an empyreal glowing mosaic.
From New York Times • Aug. 31, 2021
Almost all of his employees had gone home for the evening, and the room glowed its serene empyreal blue and white against the rush-hour traffic outside.
From New York Times • Jan. 23, 2018
Any authentic cookery tastes of nostalgia, but Bastianich has built an entire business on her empyreal girlhood memories of a lost Istria.
From Time Magazine Archive
Each empyreal star Sits in a sphere afar In shining ambuscade: The child-brow, crowned by none, Keeps its unchildlike shade.
From The Poetical Works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning Volume II by Browning, Elizabeth Barrett
Definitions 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.
