Meanings
terrene1
comparative more terrene · superlative most terrene
- Pertaining to earth or the material world; earthly, terrestrial (as opposed to heavenly or marine).
For the earth was both celestial and terrene, the down here and the up there.
1974, Guy Davenport, Tatlin!5 more examples
God set before him a mortal and immortal life, a nature celestial and terrene.
1614, Walter Ralegh [i.e., Walter Raleigh], The Historie of the World […], London: […] William Stansby for Walter Burre, […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=1 to 5)Even Crovvns and Diadems, the moſt ſplendid parts of terrene attains; are akin to that, vvhich to day is in the field, and to morrovv is cut dovvn, and vvither'd: […]
1661, Joseph Glanvill, chapter XVII, in The Vanity of Dogmatizing: Or Confidence in Opinions. […], London: […] E. C[otes] for Henry Eversden […], →OCLC, pages 237–238The common conceptions of the matters which lie at the basis of our terrene experience
1882, Laurens P. Hickok, “The Understanding”, in Empirical Psychology, Boston: Ginn, Heath & Co., page 87One had never thought of the sea as the great place of safety, but now it came over one that there is no place so safe from the land. When it does not give you trouble it takes it away—takes away letters and telegrams and newspapers and visits and duties and efforts, all the complications, all the superfluities and superstitions that we have stuffed into our terrene life.
1888, Henry James, The PatagoniaArius, warring his life long upon the consubstantiality of the Son with the Father, and Valentine, spurning Christ’s terrene body, and the subtle African heresiarch Sabellius who held that the Father was Himself His own Son.
1922 February 2, James Joyce, Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC
- poeticThe Earth's surface; the earth; the ground.
Tenfold the length of this terrene
1667, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC
terrene2
plural terrenes
- datedDated form of tureen.
March 27, 1760, Horace Walpole, letter to George Montagu Esq. Execrable varnished pictures, chests, cabinets, commodes, tables, stands, boxes, riding on one another's backs, and loaded with terrenes, filligree, figures, and everything upon earth
Terrene3
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveMade of matter (as opposed to antimatter).
nounSynonym of Terran (“an inhabitant of Earth; an earthling”).
adjectiveSynonym of Terran (“of Earth; of terrestrial origin”).
More synonyms by meaning
adjectiveof or relating to or inhabiting the land as opposed to the sea or air
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
terrene · adjective, noun
- Latinterrēnus
- Anglo-Normanterriene
- Middle Englishterrene
- Englishterrene
From Middle English terrene, from Anglo-Norman terriene, feminine of terrien, from Latin terrēnus, from terra (“earth”).
More words from Middle English, Anglo-Norman, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with terrene
Anagrams
Cite this entry
terrene. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/terrene
“terrene.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/terrene. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “terrene,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/terrene.
Source: terrene on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.