Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Of, relating to, or limited by time: a temporal dimension; temporal and spatial boundaries.
- adj. Of or relating to the material world; worldly: the temporal possessions of the Church.
- adj. Lasting only for a time; not eternal; passing: our temporal existence.
- adj. Secular or lay; civil: lords temporal and spiritual.
- adj. Grammar Expressing time: a temporal adverb.
- adj. Of, relating to, or near the temples of the skull.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In ichthyology: Same as hyomandibular.
- n. Same as pterotic.
- n. Same as sphenotic, 2.
- Of or pertaining to time; expressing relations of time: as, a temporal clause; a temporal adverb.
- Of or pertaining to time in the sense of the present life or this world; secular: distinguished from spiritual.
- Measured or limited by time, or by this life or this state of things; having limited existence; of short duration; enduring for a time: opposed to eternal.
- In grammar, relating to a tense, or to the distinction of time expressed by tenses.
- 2 and Temporary, Temporal. Temporary, lasting but a short time: as, a temporary staging; temporal, belonging to time, hence belonging to this world, secular, or limited by time, not permanent, although perhaps not so fleeting as temporary things.
- n. Anything temporal or secular; a temporality; a temporal matter or affair.
- Of or pertaining to the temple or temples of the head: said chiefly of mammals and especially of man.
- In entomology, postorbital; situated just behind or beneath the compound eyes.
- n. The bone of the temple, or os temporis. See temporal bone, above.
Wiktionary
- adj. Of or relating to time.
- adj. Of limited time; not perpetual.
- adj. Of or relating to the material world, as opposed to spiritual.
- adj. Lasting a short time only.
- n. Anything temporal or secular; a temporality.
- adj. of the temples of the head
- n. anatomy Either of the bones on the side of the skull, near the ears.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. (Anat.) Of or pertaining to the temple or temples
- adj. Of or pertaining to time, that is, to the present life, or this world; secular, as distinguished from
sacred oreternal . - adj. Civil or political, as distinguished from
ecclesiastical . - n. Anything temporal or secular; a temporality; -- used chiefly in the plural.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. of or relating to or limited by time
- adj. not eternal
- adj. of this earth or world
- n. the semantic role of the noun phrase that designates the time of the state or action denoted by the verb
- adj. characteristic of or devoted to the temporal world as opposed to the spiritual world
- adj. of or relating to the temples (the sides of the skull behind the orbit)
Etymologies
- From New Latin temporalis, from Latin tempora ("the temples"), plural of tempus ("temple, head, face"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from Old French, from Latin temporālis, from tempus, tempor-, time.Late Latin temporālis, from Latin tempora, pl. of tempus, temple. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“˜temporal part™ (see section 2), and it raises a methodological issue: should ˜temporal part™ be defined in such a way that presentists can believe in temporal parts, or not?”
“And the other benefit that we have, Alina, is that this is what I call a temporal event.”
“In what we call our temporal life God gets only a formal recognition, while Mammon is the referee.”
“He is sovereign over all parts of what we call the temporal and the eternal.”
“It allows us to then place structures in temporal order, examine individual transitions and make relevant predictions.”
“Death is only a power over us because we are in temporal state of existence.”
Must Watch: Bill Maher's Religulous Trailer! « FirstShowing.net
“He is head over all, in temporal and spiritual matters, and all business and lawsuits are settled by him, as the supreme authority.”
Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror: The Road To Science Fiction 1 - James Gunn
“Since the early 19th century, however, there has been an overall warming trend [25], although with clear evidence of both spatial variability and shorter-term temporal variability [26].”
Late-Quaternary changes in arctic terrestrial ecosystems, climate, and ultraviolet radiation levels
“Similarly, the temporal continuum imputed on the basis of such no-longer-happening, presently-happening, and not-yet-happening temporal intervals is also merely what the mental label temporal continuum refers to on their basis, without there being any such findable referent “thing” as a “temporal continuum.””
“I said nothing about the Catholic Church involvement in temporal matters.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘temporal’.
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Impressionism
Words that describe the art of the impressionist era.
seascapes, landscapes, modern, impression, impressionist, contemporary, flicker, sensation, modernity, perceived, perceiving, momentary and 142 more...
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phrontistery-t
from phrontistery.info
tabacosis, tabanid, tabaret, tabati?re, tabby, tabefaction, tabellary, tabellion, tabernacle, tabernacular, tabescent, tabific and 930 more...
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allover
reintegrate, spight, surveillant, harmonize, Colophon, workplace, bigoted, unsighted, bridgework, salutation, voltmeter, octane and 159 more...
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words 1
Traduce, Ramify, precipitous, rapture, adumbrate, knell, smolder, vagary, choleric, sibylline, hypocritical, jejune and 135 more...
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The Request Line
This is the place to add words you'd like Charles Harrington Elster to pronounce for you!
swingeing, affiant, dahlia, hydrangea, re, clematis, Nabokov, casu marzu, schadenfreudgeon, nefarious, mewl, manteion and 170 more...
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SCIE - neurology
abducens.....draw..., ablation.....carr..., acetylcholine......., adrenalin.....nea..., afferent.....to c..., agnosia.....no kn..., alar.....wing-like, alexia.....no words, alveus.....canal, amacrine.....no l..., ambidextrous........, ambiguus.....doub... and 701 more...
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GRE
predilection, explicit, appeal, supplication, appealing, enchanting, ovation, pertinent, apropos, opportunely, applicable, germane and 381 more...
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Time
Words related to time
time, occurrence, duration, schedule, calendar, period, continuance, event, before, until, since, after and 28 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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MyList
peter out, fraying, jump on the bandw..., indignation, eclectic, hung up, salutary, hoary, warped, glaring, blue-collar, concomitant and 105 more...
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Latin Spelling Bee List
need to know these words!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
inane, ambivalent, incriminate, interrupt, amicable, meticulous, animosity, curriculum, electoral, transect, condolences, bugle and 132 more...
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Anatomically Correct
canthus, vibrissa, femoral, sphenoid, dura mater, pia mater, epiglottis, glottis, mons veneris, plaque, tibia, ulna and 96 more...
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word list!!!!
lagniappe
syzygy, bloviate, lagniappe, laconic, condign, umbrage, susurrus, thaumaturgy, capacious, capitulate, glower, repast and 179 more...
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A Matter Of Time
Favorite time-related words.
vespertine, twilight, gloaming, eftsoon, eventide, dawn, eos, dusk, witching hour, ephemeral, candlemark, autumnal and 122 more...
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NTDW1
template, modal, sublingual, tandem, polycentric, septuagenarian, token, irrevocable, denotive, augural, aberrant, phlebotomy and 1188 more...
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Aequoria's list
affect, deleterious, nuance, pliant, verbatim, pertinent, latter, municipality, provincial, voyeuristic, circumlocution, wane and 798 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for temporal.

Prolagus Just to clarify: by TEMporal I mean both Mr. Pronunciation's and chelster's pronunciations. Mar 29, 2011
reesetee *suddenly has an unreasonable urge to scream "Exterminate! Exterminate!* Mar 1, 2011
ruzuzu Ah, delicious fried time lord--no wonder Dr. Who is the last of his kind. Feb 23, 2011
yarb Have you tried lords temporal, ruzuzu? They're a bit like prawns, but not as juicy. Feb 23, 2011
ruzuzu I say it with a sort of U sound in the middle--no L at the end. I'm especially fond of sweet potato temporal, but big slices of carrots are yummy, too. Feb 23, 2011
bilby I've only heard it as tem-POR-al. Feb 23, 2011
Prolagus I've heard a few people (*) pronounce it temPOral instead of TEMporal. Has anyone else ever heard that? Could it be an accepted variant? Chelster? Anyone?
(*) In particular, biologists in my PhD program, when referring to phylogenetic methods (maybe mollusque can help?). Feb 23, 2011