sublunary

English

Etymology

From sub- +‎ lunary.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sʌbˈluːnəɹi/

Adjective

sublunary (not comparable)

1. Situated between the earth and the moon; sublunar or cislunar.
2. Of this world (as opposed to heaven etc.); earthly, terrestrial.
   • 1695, John Dryden (translator), De Arte Graphica: The Art of Painting by Charles Alphonse du Fresnoy, London: W. Rogers, Preface, p. v,^[1]

     […] the Cœlestial Bodies above the Moon being incorruptible, and not subject to change, remain’d for ever fair, and in perpetual order: On the contrary, all things which are sublunary are subject to change, to deformity, and to decay.

   • 1699, Robert South, “A Discourse Preached at Christ-Church, Oxon, Before the University, October 15, 1699,” in Twelve Sermons, Volume 4, 4th edition, London: Jonah Bowyer, 1727, p. 533,^[2]

     All sublunary Comforts imitate the Changeableness, as well as feel the Influence, of the Planet they are under.

   • 1719, Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe:

     and the conversation which employed the hours between Friday and me was such as made the three years which we lived there together perfectly and completely happy, if any such thing as complete happiness can be formed in a sublunary state.

   • 1756, Samuel Johnson, “The Life of Sir Thomas Browne” in Thomas Browne, Christian Morals, 2nd edition, London: J. Payne, p. xxvii,^[3]

     […] in all sublunary things, there is something to be wished, which we must wish in vain.

   • 1844, John Mills, chapter XI, in The English Fireside. A Tale of the Past. [...] In Three Volumes, volume I, London: Saunders and Otley, […], →OCLC, page 181:

     Mr John Puffingham was a patron—a patron to the diversified layers and strata of men and things pertaining to sublunary matters.

   • 1946, Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, I.19:

     We must infer that God does not know of the existence of our sublunary world.

Derived terms

• sublunary sphere

Noun

sublunary (plural sublunaries)

1. (obsolete) Any worldly thing.