Celestial
pertaining to the sky or visible heaven, or to the universe beyond the earth’s atmosphere, as in celestial body.
pertaining to the spiritual or invisible heaven; heavenly; divine:
celestial bliss.
of or relating to celestial navigation:
a celestial fix.
(initial capital letter) of or relating to the former Chinese Empire or the Chinese people.
an inhabitant of heaven.
(initial capital letter) a citizen of the Celestial Empire.
Contemporary Examples
Historical Examples
adjective
heavenly; divine; spiritual: celestial peace
of or relating to the sky: celestial bodies
adj.
late 14c., “pertaining to heaven,” from Old French celestial “celestial, heavenly, sky-blue,” from Latin caelestis “heavenly, pertaining to the sky,” from caelum “heaven, sky; abode of the gods; climate,” of uncertain origin; perhaps from PIE *kaid-slo-, perhaps from a root also found in Germanic and Baltic meaning “bright, clear” (cf. Lithuanian skaidrus “shining, clear;” Old English hador, German heiter “clear, shining, cloudless,” Old Norse heið “clear sky”).
The Latin word is the source of the usual word for “sky” in most of the Romance languages, e.g. French ciel, Spanish cielo, Italian cielo. General sense of “heavenly, very delightful” in English is from early 15c.
celestial
(sə-lěs’chəl)
Relating to the sky or the heavens. Stars and planets are celestial bodies.
Relating to the celestial sphere or to any of the coordinate systems by which the position of an object, such as a star or planet, is represented on it.
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- Celestial discharge
noun phrase Death: Mr Jones got his celestial discharge today (1990s+ Medical)
- Celestial-empire
the former Chinese Empire. noun an archaic or literary name for the Chinese Empire
- Celestial-equator
the great circle of the celestial sphere, lying in the same plane as the earth’s equator. noun the great circle lying on the celestial sphere the plane of which is perpendicular to the line joining the north and south celestial poles Also called equinoctial, equinoctial circle celestial equator A great circle separating the northern and […]
- Celestial-globe
See under globe (def 3). the planet Earth (usually preceded by the). a planet or other celestial body. a sphere on which is depicted a map of the earth (terrestrial globe) or of the heavens (celestial globe) a spherical body; sphere. anything more or less spherical, as a lampshade or a glass fishbowl. a golden […]
- Celestial-guidance
a guidance system for an aeronautical or space vehicle by which an automatic device in the vehicle takes periodic fixes on celestial bodies to determine the vehicle’s position and to guide it along a particular flight path. noun the guidance of a spacecraft or missile by reference to the position of one or more celestial […]