unearthly

[uhn-urth-lee]

adjective

1. seeming not to belong to this earth or world.

   unearthly beauty.

2. supernatural; ghostly; unnaturally strange; weird.

   an unearthly scream.

   Synonyms: spectral, preternatural

3. out of the ordinary; unreasonable or absurd.

   to get up at an unearthly hour.

unearthly

/ ʌnˈɜːθlɪ /

adjective

1. ghostly; eerie; weird

   unearthly screams

2. heavenly; sublime

   unearthly music

3. ridiculous or unreasonable (esp in the phrase unearthly hour )

Other Word Forms

• unearthliness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of unearthly¹

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

Synonym Study

See weird.

Example Sentences

Nansi swings his eyes upward, studying the sparkling stars like there are messages written in the unearthly skies.

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That makes the Palisades fire all the more unearthly.

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“It was going to be almost a vocal earthwork,” said Aitken, who tends to think and speak in floating, unearthly concepts.

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I may have dozed just lightly when an unearthly moan jarred me awake.

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They did not leave disappointed as the sun shrank to a crescent-like sliver of light that cast an unearthly pale gloom over the city.

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