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extraterrestrial

Use the adjective extraterrestrial to describe anything that comes from or exists outside of the earth, like life on a distant planet, material from an asteroid, or even the sun.

The word extraterrestrial makes most people think of big-headed green aliens in spaceships, and if you saw one you'd be right to describe it that way. But as both a noun and an adjective, the word is most often used by scientists to talk about anything — life, rocks, or environments on other planets — that happens outside of the earth's atmosphere. This makes sense when you know that in Latin, extra means "outside" and terra means "earth."

DEFINITIONS OF: extraterrestrial

1

n a form of life assumed to exist outside the Earth or its atmosphere

Synonyms:
alien, extraterrestrial being
Type of:
hypothetical creature
a creature that has not been observed but is hypothesized to exist

adj originating or located or occurring outside Earth or its atmosphere

“is there extraterrestrial life?”
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