-thlē, -li adjective
Etymology: Middle English erthely, erthly, from Old English eorthlīc, from eorth- (from eorthe earth) + -līc -ly
1.
a. : characteristic of or belonging to this earth — often distinguished from heavenly
no earthly sovereign can do what he pleases — M.R.Cohen
there could be a new order based on vital harmony and the earthly millenium might approach — E.M.Forster
b. : relating to man's actual life on this earth : realistic , factual , worldly : not ideal, spiritual, or utopian
2. archaic : earthen
3. : existing, living, or occurring on or in the ground
airplane travel would have remained a merely minor quantitative improvement over earthly locomotion — Maya Deren
4. : conceivable according to actualities and facts : possible
there is no earthly doubt that men degenerate — J.B.Cabell
not an earthly chance to win
Synonyms:
terrestrial , terrene , earthy , mundane , worldly , sublunary : earthly is generally an opposite for heavenly or spiritual
the high gods, who dwell remote from the fret and fever of this earthly life — J.G.Frazer
we felt that the holy calm that lay like sunshine over the wasted face and form was only an earthly token and symbol of the calm that was to reign forever — Bram Stoker
terrestrial , sometimes a sonorous or scientific close synonym for earthly , is often an opposite for celestial. It may be used to designate land in contrast to water or air or to indicate planets nearer the sun in contrast to those more distant
it was probably not the first time that struggles for terrestrial power were carried on in terms of celestial ideology; it certainly has not been the last — L.A.White
strictly terrestrial, being from the nature of its claws unable to climb trees — James Stevenson-Hamilton
terrene is an uncommon synonym for earthly and for terrestrial in general nonscientific applications
and so the empyrean element, lying smothered under the terrene, and yet inextinguishable there, made sad writings — Thomas Carlyle
all that was mixed and reconciled in Thee … of high with low, celestial with terrene — William Wordsworth
earthy differs from earthly in centering attention on the soil or ground of the earth rather than on the earth as a planet or as the habitat of mankind; it may imply grossness, crudeness, concern with material things, and lack of anything exalted
he smelled the earthy fragrance rising up out of the furrows — Pearl Buck
these native passion plays are more earthy than religious, are enlivened with a good many broadly comic touches — Green Peyton
with much earthy dross in her, she was yet preeminently a creature of “fire and air” — John Buchan
mundane is opposed to spiritual, lofty, exalted, or elevated; it centers attention on practical affairs and concerns, immediate objectives, base or basic needs and pleasures, and occasionally routine or humdrum activity
she did not allow them to talk of mundane affairs on these expeditions to and from church — Archibald Marshall
the real meaning of the play is evidently the triumph of the spiritual over the mundane — Grenville Vernon
such mundane activities as washing dishes or driving an automobile — Ralph Linton
worldly may suggest indifference to and obliviousness about matters spiritual and attention to success, pleasure, sophistication, and gain
the obvious thing to say of her was that she was worldly; cared too much for rank and society and getting on in the world — which was true in a sense — Virginia Woolf
our medieval universities were founded not for laymen but for monks and clerics whose business was primarily not with worldly affairs but with the eternal hereafter — M.R.Cohen
sublunary is a rather literary synonym for terrestrial or, sometimes, for earthly
the quakes and sublunary conflicts of this negligible earth — L.P.Smith
the contrast between the transcendental, immutable, and eternal heavens, the home of the blest, on the one hand, and the sublunary sphere of the earth, the scene of birth, change, decay, and death on the other — G.C.Sellery