Meanings
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1
adj
Not of the earth; nonterrestrial.
They were, I now saw, the most unearthly creatures it is possible to conceive.
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2
adj
Preternatural or supernatural.
I believe that we are the last human beings who will ever see that unearthly sight.
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3
adj
Strange, enigmatic, or mysterious.
I then set out to survey the town in the self-same palankeen. The houses had all of them an unearthly appearance, by no means consonant to our ideas of Oriental splendor.
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4
adj
Ideal beyond the mundane.
By the late sixteenth century Elizabeth had become the icon-like Virgin Queen of legend, an image created, to a large extent, by her extraordinary, unearthly costume and appearance.
Etymology
From un- + earthly.