firmament
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of firmament
1250–1300; Middle English < Late Latin firmāmentum sky, Latin: support, prop, stay, equivalent to firmā ( re ) to strengthen, support ( see firm 2) + -mentum -ment
Explanation
The firmament is the curve of the sky, especially if you imagine it as a solid surface. You can describe the sky at night as a firmament shining with stars (if you're feeling poetic). The word firmament comes from the Latin firmus, or "firm," and this description of the sky as something solid reflects ancient ideas of the way the universe was constructed. The first stargazers imagined the sky as a sphere, and it wasn't until the late 1500s that the idea of an infinite universe was seriously considered. Today the word firmament is mostly literary, used to poetically describe the visual curve of the sky.
Vocabulary lists containing firmament
Julius Caesar
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Mythology
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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.
Did she back off on a premise that is dead on arrival in the current cultural firmament?
From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2026
It is our fervent belief that this conversation about the role of the court in the U.S. legal firmament will serve to make the court more durable.
From Slate ● Jul. 20, 2026
Announcing his campaign before she officially made that decision — or had the chance to choose her successor — sent shock waves through the political firmament.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 8, 2026
For those who grew up with Ms. Blume’s star fixed immutably in their literary firmament, it’s hard to think of her success as a fluke of time and place.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 13, 2026
How did Donne know that the new philosophers were seeking new worlds, not only by thinking of the planets as worlds but also by looking for worlds elsewhere in the firmament?
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
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.
