temporal

CEFRC1

/ˈtɛm.pə.ɹəl/

adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    adjective

    Related to time rather than space or spiritual matters.

  2. 02

    adjective

    Extra detail

    Relating to time:, Of limited time, transient, passing, not perpetual, as opposed to eternal.

Examples

  • It took Tom a while to understand the rules of temporal sequence in indirect speech.

  • The Right Honourable the Lords Spiritual and Temporal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings

  1. Of or relating to the material world, as opposed to sacred or clerical.

  2. Relating to time:

  3. Of limited time, transient, passing, not perpetual, as opposed to eternal.

More examples

In context

  • temporal power, temporal courts

  • The [papal] train was in use until 1871, when the Pope [Pius IX] lost his temporal power.

  • Not long before, he had ruefully acknowledged in a letter to his pious mother that most of his appointments to the bench of bishops had been motivated by distinctly temporal impulses.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

Because all things change and decay, the blank nature of human life is inevitable.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

adjective

From Middle English temporal, temporel (“transitory, worldly, material, of secular society”), from Old French temporel or Latin temporālis (“of time (in grammar), temporary, relating to time as opposed to eternity”), from tempus (“time, period, opportunity”) + -ālis.