empyrean

American  

[em-puh-ree-uhn, -pahy-, em-pir-ee-uhn, -pahy-ree-] / ˌɛm pəˈri ən, -paɪ-, ɛmˈpɪr i ən, -ˈpaɪ ri- /

noun

1. the highest heaven, supposed by the ancients to contain the pure element of fire.

2. the visible heavens; the firmament.

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adjective

1. empyreal.

empyrean British  

/ ˌɛmpaɪˈriːən /

noun

1. archaic the highest part of the (supposedly spherical) heavens, thought in ancient times to contain the pure element of fire and by early Christians to be the abode of God and the angels

2. poetic the heavens or sky

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adjective

1. of or relating to the sky, the heavens, or the empyrean

2. heavenly or sublime

3. archaic composed of fire

Etymology

Origin of empyrean

1605–15; < Late Latin empyre ( us ) empyreal + -an

Example Sentences

The Virgin is opening her arms, about to begin her rise through this nebulous, spiraling vortex toward heaven’s golden, empyrean light.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 9, 2026

The arrival is at empyrean, announced by a hidden, mystic Los Angeles Master Chorale.

From Los Angeles Times • May 4, 2022

The blushing beauty of the Larghetto was haunted by Barenboim’s light keyboard touch and empyrean mood: he could have been summoning ghosts.

From The New Yorker • Feb. 3, 2017

An attentive husband to Corrine and a good father to their children, he glides through New York’s financial and cultural empyrean in a state of blissful satisfaction.

From Washington Post • Aug. 4, 2016

They say he intends to remake the Austrian town of Linz into an empyrean city, the cultural capital of the world.

From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr