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Synonyms

celestial

American  
[suh-les-chuhl] / səˈlɛs tʃəl /

adjective

  1. pertaining to the sky or visible heaven, or to the universe beyond the earth’s atmosphere, as in

  2. pertaining to the spiritual or invisible heaven; heavenly; divine.

    celestial bliss.

    Synonyms:
    ethereal, beatific, seraphic, angelic
  3. of or relating to celestial navigation.

    a celestial fix.

  4. Celestial, of or relating to the former Chinese Empire or the Chinese people.


noun

  1. an inhabitant of heaven.

  2. Celestial, a citizen of the Celestial Empire.

celestial British  
/ sɪˈlɛstɪəl /

adjective

  1. heavenly; divine; spiritual

    celestial peace

  2. of or relating to the sky

    celestial bodies

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

celestial Scientific  
/ sə-lĕschəl /
  1. Relating to the sky or the heavens. Stars and planets are celestial bodies.

  2. 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.


Other Word Forms

  • celestiality noun
  • celestially adverb
  • celestialness noun
  • noncelestial adjective
  • noncelestially adverb
  • supercelestial adjective
  • supercelestially adverb
  • uncelestial adjective

Etymology

Origin of celestial

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Medieval Latin cēlestiālis, equivalent to Latin caelesti(s) “heavenly” ( cael(um “heaven, sky” + -estis adjective suffix) + -ālis -al 1

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The rocks brought home by the Apollo astronauts transformed our understanding of our celestial neighbour.

From BBC • Mar. 29, 2026

But not all of the artist’s works have a gourmet bent — she also creates celestial goddesses and nature-inspired divas, and made a series devoted to the Major Arcana of tarot.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 25, 2026

AST SpaceMobile’s army of fervent retail trader fans will be hoping that by then, their own company’s satellites are already tracing their own celestial path.

From Barron's • Mar. 4, 2026

If the NFL has its way, this might just be a once-in-a-lifetime celestial occurrence.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 7, 2026

Each believed that sickness reflected the will of celestial forces.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann