Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of or relating to the earth or its inhabitants.
  • adjective Biology Living or growing on land or on or in the ground; not aquatic, arboreal, or epiphytic.
  • adjective Astronomy Similar to the planet earth in size or composition.
  • adjective Transmitted from structures on the earth and not involving satellites.
  • adjective Archaic Of or relating to the earth rather than heaven.
  • noun An inhabitant of the earth.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Of or pertaining to the earth; existing on the earth; earthly: opposed to celestial: as, terrestrial bodies; terrestrial magnetism.
  • Representing or consisting of the earth: as, a or the terrestrial globe. See globe, 4.
  • Pertaining to the world or to the present state; sublunary; worldly; mundane.
  • Pertaining to or consisting of land, as opposed to water, or of earth.
  • In zoology, living on the ground; confined to the ground; not aquatic, arboreal, or aërial; terricolous.
  • In botany, growing on land, not aquatic; growing in the ground, not on trees.
  • noun An inhabitant of the earth.
  • noun plural In zoology: A section of the class Aves, the Terrestres.
  • noun The pulmonate gastropods.
  • noun A division of isopods.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Of or pertaining to the earth; existing on the earth; earthly.
  • adjective Representing, or consisting of, the earth.
  • adjective Of or pertaining to the world, or to the present state; sublunary; mundane.
  • adjective Consisting of land, in distinction from water; belonging to, or inhabiting, the land or ground, in distinction from trees, water, or the like.
  • adjective Adapted for the observation of objects on land and on the earth.
  • noun An inhabitant of the earth.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun An inhabitant of the planet Earth.
  • noun botany A ground-dwelling plant.
  • adjective Of, relating to, or inhabiting the land of the Earth or its inhabitants.
  • adjective Of, relating to, or composed of land.
  • adjective Living or growing in or on land (as opposed to other habitat); not aquatic, etc.
  • adjective astronomy Of a planet, being composed primarily of silicate rocks or metals; see also terrestrial planet.
  • adjective Concerned with the world or worldly matters.
  • adjective Mormonism Of or pertaining to the second highest degree of glory.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective operating or living or growing on land
  • adjective of this earth
  • adjective concerned with the world or worldly matters
  • adjective of or relating to or characteristic of the planet Earth or its inhabitants
  • adjective of or relating to or inhabiting the land as opposed to the sea or air

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Latin terrestris, from terra, earth; see ters- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin terrestris, from terra ("land, earth, ground").

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