firmament

[ fur-muh-muh nt ]

/ ˈfɜr mə mənt /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR firmament ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

the vault of heaven; sky.

RELATED WORDS

lid, empyrean, sky, welkin, vault

Nearby words

Origin of firmament

1250–1300; Middle English < Late Latin firmāmentum sky, Latin: support, prop, stay, equivalent to firmā(re) to strengthen, support (see firm²) + -mentum -ment

Related formsfir·ma·men·tal

[fur-muh-men-tl] /ˌfɜr məˈmɛn tl/, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for firmament

The reader leaves with a better sense of the firmament and frontline fights occurring in the current independent movement.
Political Independents: The Future of Politics?|John Avlon|September 23, 2012|DAILY BEAST
But his disappearance from the Washington firmament does not mean that the work he used to do is being left undone.
David’s Book Club: ‘Capitol Punishment’|David Frum|March 23, 2012|DAILY BEAST
The star of his genius mounted, without a cloud to obscure it, in the firmament of the Church.
The Lives of the Saints, Volume III (of 16): March|Sabine Baring-Gould
The firmament possesses but one sun, and the land of Irk but one king.
The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan|James Morier

The sky was brilliant with stars, as if the firmament were strewn with silver dust.
Captain Canot|Brantz Mayer
It looks to me like the firmament at night, with all the stars a-shining.
The Long Roll|Mary Johnston
That Auntie Jan loved them both with her whole heart was now one of the fixed stars in Tony's firmament of beliefs.
Jan and Her Job|L. Allen Harker

British Dictionary definitions for firmament

firmament

/ (ˈfɜːməmənt) /

noun

the expanse of the sky; heavens

Derived Formsfirmamental (ˌfɜːməˈmɛntəl), adjective

Word Origin for firmament

C13: from Late Latin firmāmentum sky (considered as fixed above the earth), from Latin: prop, support, from firmāre to make firm 1

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

Word Origin and History for firmament

firmament

mid-13c., from Latin firmamentum "firmament," literally "a support or strengthening," from firmus "firm" (see firm (adj.)), used in Vulgate to translate Greek stereoma "firm or solid structure," which translated Hebrew raqia, a word used of both the vault of the sky and the floor of the earth in the Old Testament, probably literally "expanse," from raqa "to spread out," but in Syriac meaning "to make firm or solid," hence the erroneous translation.