unearthly

[ uhn-urth-lee ]

/ ʌnˈɜrθ li /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR unearthly ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

seeming not to belong to this earth or world: unearthly beauty.

supernatural; ghostly; unnaturally strange; weird: an unearthly scream.

out of the ordinary; unreasonable or absurd: to get up at an unearthly hour.

RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

unearned, unearned income, unearned increment, unearned run, unearth, unearthly, unease, uneasy, uneasy lies the head that wears a crown, uneatable, uneaten

Origin of unearthly

First recorded in 1605–15; un-¹ + earthly

SYNONYMS FOR unearthly

2 preternatural, spectral. See weird.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR unearthly ON THESAURUS.COM

Related formsun·earth·li·ness, noun

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

Examples from the Web for unearthly

But who was to dream that he would arrange to leave it at such an unearthly time of the morning at this dark season of the year?
The Hand of Ethelberta|Thomas Hardy
I'm leaving town tomorrow, or I should not have intruded at such an unearthly hour.
Dope|Sax Rohmer
To my eyes it has an unearthly loveliness which I make no effort to pass on to others.
Roving East and Roving West|E. V. Lucas
The unearthly beauty of the thought and the divine simplicity of its expression took the orator captive.
A Modern Idyll|Frank Harris

In such a place, at such an hour, it has something ghastly and unearthly in its nature.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 63, No. 391, May, 1848|Various

British Dictionary definitions for unearthly

unearthly

/ (ʌnˈɜːθlɪ) /

adjective

ghostly; eerie; weirdunearthly screams

heavenly; sublimeunearthly music

ridiculous or unreasonable (esp in the phrase unearthly hour)

Derived Formsunearthliness, noun

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 unearthly

unearthly

adj.

1610s, "heavenly, sublime," from un- (1) "not" + earthly. Sense of "ghostly, weird" first recorded 1802. Related: Unearthliness.