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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

otherworldly en · ADJ

Pronunciation

  • /ˌʌðəɹˈwɜɹəl(d)li/ (General-American)
  • (General-American) audio
  • /ˌʌðəˈwɜːldli/ (Received-Pronunciation)
  • (Southern-England) audio
  • /ˌʌðəɹˈwɜɹl(d)li/ (General-American)
  • ŭth'ər-wûrldʹli (General-American)

Etymology

From other world (“a world beyond death; a world other than the everyday world”) + -ly (suffix meaning having the likeness of, resembling forming adjectives).

Meanings

  1. Of, concerned with, or preoccupied with a world different from the tangible world, especially a fantasy, imaginary, or mystical world.
    • In Just My Type: A Book about Fonts (2010) Simon Garfield describes [Edward] Johnston as 'a gaunt fine-boned man with a full moustache', and there's a picture of him at work with a quill pen that makes him look as other-worldly as a medieval sprite. 2012, Andrew Martin, “Everywhere in Trains”, in Underground Overground: A Passenger’s History of the Tube, paperback edition, London: Profile Books, published 2013, →ISBN, page 160:
    • The bull kelp forests off Northern California are sometimes spoken of as the redwoods of the sea. And like the redwoods, these forests are in danger. In less than a decade, these otherworldly undersea landscapes, lush with life, have all but disappeared along 200 miles of coast north of San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge. 2022 April 30, David Helvarg, “Climate change threatens another California forest, this one underwater”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 17 Aug 2025:
  2. (figuratively) Of, concerned with, or preoccupied with a world different from the tangible world, especially a fantasy, imaginary, or mystical world. ▸ Odd and unfamiliar; strange, uncanny, weird.
    • An almost otherworldly resilience has characterized the 40-year arc of the Clintons' political lives, a well-documented pattern of dazzling success, shattering setback and inevitable recovery. 2015 April 15, Jonathan Martin, “For a Clinton, it’s not hard to be humble in an effort to regain power”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 04 Sep 2025:
    • "David [Bowie] used to say he would sell his soul to be famous," she says. "But he was also otherworldly – and you couldn’t take your eyes off him." 2024 April 2, Sarfraz Manzoor, quoting Suzi Ronson, “‘Bowie said he’d sell his soul to be famous’: Suzi Ronson on sex, ruthless ambition – and dyeing David’s hair red”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 16 Dec 2024:
    • The sudden inundation from the remnants of Ida transformed familiar scenes of life in New York into otherworldly and waterlogged chaos on Wednesday night. 2021 September 1, Michael Levenson, Anne Barnard, “Scenes from New York City as Ida paralyzes region”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 22 Dec 2021:
    • "Hey, Rick." / "Oh, hey, kiddo. How's your Saturday?" / "You know, super chill. W-W-Whatcha doin'?" / "Eh, nothing adventurous. You know that race of Underground Dwelling Cannibal Horse People that we're always fighting?" / "Yeah, the CHUDs. W-W-What about 'em?" / "Well, don't tell anybody, but I'm working on a bioweapon to use against them, so I got this barrel of horse semen from your mom's hospital and I'm just gonna, you know, subject it to some otherworldly forces." 2021 July 11, Nick Rutherford, “Rickdependence Spray” (1:10 from the start), in Rick and Morty, season 5, episode 4, spoken by Rick Sanchez (Justin Roiland):
    • He had not seen cricket played since the war began; it seemed almost other-worldly, with the click of the bats, and the shrill young voices, under the distant drone of that sky-hornet threshing along to Hendon. 1919 October, John Galsworthy, chapter VII, in Saint’s Progress, London: William Heinemann, published December 1919, →OCLC, part III, 1 §, page 285:
  3. Of, concerned with, or preoccupied with spiritual matters.
    • [Simphiwe] Dana has the otherworldly temperament of a mystic. 2007 August 26, Clive Davis, “Simphiwe Dana: The One Love Movement on Bantu Biko Street”, in The Times, London: News UK, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 14 Dec 2025:
    • [Leo] Tolstoy was not a saint, but he tried very hard to make himself into a saint, and the standards he applied to literature were other-worldly ones. 1947 March, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], “Lear, Tolstoy and the Fool”, in Shooting an Elephant and Other Essays, London: Secker and Warburg, published 1950, →OCLC, page 50:
    • Every religion that becomes ascendant, in so far as it is not other-worldly, must necessarily set its stamp upon the methods and administration of the law. 1917 May, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “The Invisible King”, in God the Invisible King, London; New York, N.Y.: Cassell and Company […], →OCLC, § 7 (Adjusting Life), page 144:
  4. (broadly, obsolete, rare) Of or relating to the imagination or intellect.
    • It is easy with the other-worldly gifts to be a schöne Seele [beautiful soul]; but to the large vision of [Johann Wolfgang von] Goethe that seemed to be a phase of life that a man might feel all round and leave behind him. 1873, Walter H[oratio] Pater, “[Johann Joachim] Winckelmann”, in Studies in the History of the Renaissance, London: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 204:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
most otherworldly Degree=Sup lexicographic
other-worldly alternative lexicographic
more otherworldly Degree=Cmp lexicographic

Coordinates

offworld · offworld

Deriveds

otherworldliness

Relateds

otherworldism · other-worldness · other world · otherworld · other-worldish

Synonyms

transcendental · unworldly · ethereal · other-worldish · ethereal · unworldly · unworldly · alien · transcendental

Translations (19)

mk оносветски (of, concerned with, or preoccupied with a world different from the tangible world) · tr yabancı (of, concerned with, or preoccupied with a world different from the tangible world) · hi अलौकिक (of, concerned with, or preoccupied with a world different from the tangible world) · ka არაამქვეყნიური (of, concerned with, or preoccupied with a world different from the tangible world) · fi ylimaallinen (of, concerned with, or preoccupied with a world different from the tangible world) · fr d'un autre monde (of, concerned with, or preoccupied with a world different from the tangible world) · grc ἀποκόσμιος (of, concerned with, or preoccupied with a world different from the tangible world) · pl nieziemski (of, concerned with, or preoccupied with a world different from the tangible world) · el απόκοσμος (of, concerned with, or preoccupied with a world different from the tangible world) · la ultrāmundānus (of, concerned with, or preoccupied with a world different from the tangible world) · ru потусторо́нний (of, concerned with, or preoccupied with a world different from the tangible world) · cs nadpozemský (of, concerned with, or preoccupied with a world different from the tangible world) · de jenseitig (of, concerned with, or preoccupied with a world different from the tangible world) · ru не от ми́ра сего́ (of, concerned with, or preoccupied with a world different from the tangible world) · sv utomvärldslig (of, concerned with, or preoccupied with a world different from the tangible world) · it oltrenaturale (of, concerned with, or preoccupied with a world different from the tangible world) · it oltremondano (of, concerned with, or preoccupied with a world different from the tangible world) · es ultramundano (of, concerned with, or preoccupied with a world different from the tangible world) · es de otro mundo (of, concerned with, or preoccupied with a world different from the tangible world)