I. ˈtemp(ə)rəl adjective
Etymology: Middle English, from Latin temporalis, from tempor-, tempus period of time, fitting time, season, time (in general) + -alis -al; akin to Old Norse thambr swollen, thick, Lithuanian tempti to stretch, and probably to Latin tendere to stretch — more at thin
1.
a. : of or relating to time as opposed to eternity : temporary , transitory
temporal matters of but fleeting moment — F.D.Roosevelt
b. : of or relating to earthly life as contrasted with heavenly : terrestrial
the same actual, prosaic, uninspired regard which he turned upon temporal matters — Hilaire Belloc
c.
[Middle English, from Medieval Latin temporalis, from Latin]
: of or relating to lay or secular concerns as opposed to clerical or sacred : civil , political
temporal courts
temporal power
— see lord temporal
2.
a. : of or relating to the quantity of syllables (as in Greek and Latin verse)
b. : of or relating to grammatical tense : expressive of a distinction of time
3. : of or relating to time as distinguished from space or to a particular time : chronological
music is a temporal art — Hunter Mead
all the external events of which we are aware are recorded as spatial and temporal patterns of excitation in the sense organs — E.D.Adrian
Synonyms: see profane
II. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English, from temporal, adjective
: something temporal, secular, or material : temporality — usually used in plural
its temporals provided the church's revenue
III. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle French, from temporal, adjective
: a temporal part (as a bone, muscle, or scale)
IV. adjective
Etymology: Middle French, from Late Latin temporalis, from Latin tempor-, tempus temple (of the head) + -alis -al — more at temple
1. : of or relating to the temples or the sides of the skull behind the orbits
2. : of or relating to the temporal bone
3. of a scale of a reptile : lying behind the postoculars and between the parietals and supralabials