sublunary
Americanadjective
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situated beneath the moon or between the earth and the moon.
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characteristic of or pertaining to the earth; terrestrial.
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mundane or worldly.
fleeting, sublunary pleasure.
adjective
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situated between the moon and the earth
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of or relating to the earth or world
Etymology
Origin of sublunary
1585–95; < Late Latin sublūn ( āris ) ( sub-, lunar ) + -ary
Explanation
If something is sublunary, it belongs to the world we live in — under the moon and not the heavens above. Sublunary is an old-fashioned term used to describe things that are earthly, rather than celestial. The word comes from Latin, with sub meaning "under" and luna meaning "moon," literally translating to "under the moon." It refers to the ordinary, everyday things we encounter in life, as opposed to the divine or otherworldly. For example, our daily chores and routines are sublunary activities.
Vocabulary lists containing sublunary
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.
Few sublunary powers are, after all, as attainable as an expertise in words; or as a peruser of the Collegiate might put it, it’s a major flex.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 19, 2025
Online, touch grass is an oft-repeated quasi insult, a way to tell your opponent they’ve spent too much time scrolling and need to reestablish a relationship with the sublunary.
From Slate • Jun. 20, 2025
“Among other things, many ignored the reality that millions of African Americans were quite pleased with the decidedly sublunary consolations of equal protection under the law.”
From Washington Post • Aug. 26, 2021
He is scrupulously genial and polite, and happy to talk about theories of spacetime, but extremely reluctant to say anything on the record about the book’s more sublunary themes and ideas.
From The Guardian • Jul. 11, 2020
The mathematization of the sublunary world begins not with Galileo but with Alberti, not in the seventeenth century but in the fifteenth.
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.
