different between unearthly vs empyrean

English

Etymology

From un- +? earthly.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?n????.li/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?n???.li/

Adjective

unearthly (comparative unearthlier, superlative unearthliest)

1. Not of the earth; non-terrestrial.
   • 2012, Charles Lockwood, Tragedy at Honda, page 65

     In the hard glare of the Searchlight, which had been manned by Seaman 2nd class Evans W. Watkins, the rock had the unearthly look of a miniature satellite in space.

2. Preternatural or supernatural.
3. Strange, enigmatic, or mysterious.
   • 1819 [publ. Sep 1858], James Morton, "The Poetical Remains of the late Dr. John Leyden, with Memoirs of his Life", The Calcutta Review, volume 31, page 25

     I then set out to survey the town in the self-same palankeen. The houses had all of them an unearthly appearance, by no means consonant to our ideas of Oriental splendor.

4. Ideal beyond the mundane.
   • 2000, Aileen Ribeiro, The Gallery of Fashion, page 42

     By the late sixteenth century Elizabeth had become the icon-like Virgin Queen of legend, an image created, to a large extent, by her extraordinary, unearthly costume and appearance.

5. Ridiculous, ludicrous, or outrageous.
   • 1927, The Walther League Messenger, volume 36, page 225

     I see my boys all wearing the same unearthly trousers, the same hair cuts, garish ties and sweaters, all rolling their socks and entertaining the same crazy notions about everything.

Translations

English

Etymology

From Latin emp?reus, from Ancient Greek ???????? (empúrios), from ?? (en, “in”) + ??? (pûr, “fire”) (whence English pyre).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?m?pa???i?n?/, /?m?p??i.?n/

Noun

empyrean (plural empyreans)

1. (historical) The region of pure light and fire; the highest heaven, where the pure element of fire was supposed by the ancients to exist: the same as the ether, the ninth heaven according to ancient astronomy.

Related terms

• pyre

Adjective

empyrean (not comparable)

1. Of the sky or the heavens; celestially refined.
   • 1700, Matthew Prior, Carmen Saeculare

     Yet upward she [the goddess] incessant flies;
     Resolv’d to reach the high empyrean Sphere.

Synonyms

• empyreal

Translations

References

• empyrean in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• William Dwight Whitney and Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1914) , “empyrean”, in The Century Dictionary: An Encyclopedic Lexicon of the English Language, volume II (D–Hoon), revised edition, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., OCLC 1078064371.

Further reading

• empyrean on Wikipedia.Wikipedia