Standard Lemma guide

earthbound

adj · 6 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • General-American: /ˈɝθbaʊnd/
  • CMU ARPABET: ER1 TH B AW2 N D Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Confined to the Earth; unable to leave Earth, either physically or spiritually.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Heading towards the planet Earth.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: literature, media, publishing, science-fiction

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adj

Meaning 3

Unimaginative or mundane.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: figuratively

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

adj

Meaning 4

Alternative letter-case form of earthbound.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: alt-of

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

adjective satellite

Meaning 5

confined to the earth

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

adjective satellite

Meaning 6

lacking wit or imagination

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a pedestrian movie plot

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: pedestrian, prosaic, prosy

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h1er-der. Proto-Germanic *erþō Proto-West Germanic *erþu Old English eorþe Middle English erthe English earth English -bound English earthbound From earth + -bound.

Across languages

Translations

22 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: земен (zemen) — confined to the Earth
  • Chinese Mandarin: 固定在地面上的 — confined to the Earth
  • Dutch: aardgebonden — confined to the Earth
  • Hungarian: földhöz kötött — confined to the Earth
  • Polish: naziemny — confined to the Earth
  • Swedish: jordbunden — confined to the Earth
  • Vietnamese: nằm trên mặt đất — confined to the Earth
  • Vietnamese: nằm trên bề mặt trái đất — confined to the Earth
  • Vietnamese: bị giới hạn trên trái đất hoặc bề mặt trái đất — confined to the Earth
  • Bulgarian: прозаичен (prozaičen) — unimaginative or mundane
  • Bulgarian: светски (svetski) — unimaginative or mundane
  • French: terre-à-terre — unimaginative or mundane
  • Hungarian: földhözragadt — unimaginative or mundane
  • Polish: płaski — unimaginative or mundane
  • Polish: płytki — unimaginative or mundane
  • Polish: przyziemny — unimaginative or mundane
  • Vietnamese: thiếu tưởng tượng — unimaginative or mundane
  • Vietnamese: thiếu tinh tế — unimaginative or mundane
  • Vietnamese: bị ràng buộc bởi lợi ích trần thế — unimaginative or mundane
  • Bulgarian: насочен към Земята (nasočen kǎm Zemjata) — heading towards Earth
  • Hungarian: a föld felé tartó/közeledő/haladó/irányuló — heading towards Earth
  • Polish: lecący w kierunku Ziemi — heading towards Earth