as in celestial
of, relating to, or suggesting heaven
movie scenes set in heaven often suggest that harps are the favored instruments for empyrean music
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
as in sky
a dwelling place of perfect happiness for the soul after death
ascended into the empyrean after a life filled with good deeds
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in utopia
an often imaginary place or state of utter perfection and happiness
most ticket buyers have no trouble envisioning the empyrean that winning the lottery would inevitably bring about
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Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Recent Examples of empyrean
Judith Shulevitz, The Atlantic, 14 Jan. 2025
Larraín’s third subject, Maria Callas, despite being born to an ignoble family and having to face wartime poverty during the 1940s, was no stranger to the trappings of an empyrean existence, but in constantly having to live up to it, like Diana, her life met an untimely end.
—Harrison Richlin, IndieWire, 15 Dec. 2024
The event, held high up in skyscraping event venue Glasshouse Chelsea, offered sweeping vista views of the Manhattan and New Jersey skylines meant to evoke the game’s new empyrean setting.
—Christopher Cruz, Rolling Stone, 26 Apr. 2023
At their best, Harjo’s poems inform each other, linking her different modes, facilitating her tendency to zoom from a personal experience to a more empyrean one.
—Maya Phillips, The New Yorker, 29 Aug. 2019
Louis leaves Prior, drawing the first line in a pattern of abandonment that informs the entire play, and finally stretches all the way into the empyrean kingdom of an absent God.
—Ben Brantley, New York Times, 25 Mar. 2018
Our badges looked different, we were afforded fewer privileges, and we were certainly kept in the dark about The Algorithm (pause for heavenly-choir noise effect) and other such empyrean secrets.
—Lucas Peterson, GQ, 22 May 2017
Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 18 July 2022
Magical empyrean is mundane Earth.
—Los Angeles Times, 4 May 2022
They are concealed in the empyrean.
—Frank Wilczek, WSJ, 14 Oct. 2021
O’Keeffe places the viewer aloft, level with the bone, high up in the empyrean.
—Roxana Robinson, The New Yorker, 11 Oct. 2021
That could quickly propel a few black schools into the athletic empyrean, and change the place of HBCUs in American culture.
—Jemele Hill, The Atlantic, 5 Sep. 2019
Adjective
In October, with three more of her novels now available in English and at least 20 other languages, the Swedish Academy awarded Han the Nobel Prize, elevating her to the empyrean realm reserved for writers of what is sometimes called world literature.
—Judith Shulevitz, The Atlantic, 14 Jan. 2025
Larraín’s third subject, Maria Callas, despite being born to an ignoble family and having to face wartime poverty during the 1940s, was no stranger to the trappings of an empyrean existence, but in constantly having to live up to it, like Diana, her life met an untimely end.
—Harrison Richlin, IndieWire, 15 Dec. 2024
The event, held high up in skyscraping event venue Glasshouse Chelsea, offered sweeping vista views of the Manhattan and New Jersey skylines meant to evoke the game’s new empyrean setting.
—Christopher Cruz, Rolling Stone, 26 Apr. 2023
At their best, Harjo’s poems inform each other, linking her different modes, facilitating her tendency to zoom from a personal experience to a more empyrean one.
—Maya Phillips, The New Yorker, 29 Aug. 2019
Louis leaves Prior, drawing the first line in a pattern of abandonment that informs the entire play, and finally stretches all the way into the empyrean kingdom of an absent God.
—Ben Brantley, New York Times, 25 Mar. 2018
Our badges looked different, we were afforded fewer privileges, and we were certainly kept in the dark about The Algorithm (pause for heavenly-choir noise effect) and other such empyrean secrets.
—Lucas Peterson, GQ, 22 May 2017
Noun
Betts is part of the Sox Sensation club with Fred Lynn and Nomar Garciaparra, all wildly popular and productive players who turned out to be supernovas streaking across the Boston baseball empyrean instead of franchise polestars.
—Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 18 July 2022
Magical empyrean is mundane Earth.
—Los Angeles Times, 4 May 2022
They are concealed in the empyrean.
—Frank Wilczek, WSJ, 14 Oct. 2021
O’Keeffe places the viewer aloft, level with the bone, high up in the empyrean.
—Roxana Robinson, The New Yorker, 11 Oct. 2021
That could quickly propel a few black schools into the athletic empyrean, and change the place of HBCUs in American culture.
—Jemele Hill, The Atlantic, 5 Sep. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for empyrean
Adjective
-
Earth's moon is 400 times smaller than the sun, which happens to be, on average, 400 times farther from our planet than its natural satellite — a wondrous cosmic coincidence that causes both celestial objects to appear the same size in our sky.—
Anthony Wood,
Space.com,
10 Feb. 2026
-
Called an asterism, which is a prominent group of stars that form a noticeable pattern, the celestial arrangement is a wintertime phenomenon in the Northern Hemisphere.—
Michele Laufik,
Martha Stewart,
9 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
As February progresses here in 2026, the brightest planet in the night sky, Venus, will begin to rise in the western skies just after sunset.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
5 Feb. 2026
-
So, the fact that the Illinois fireworks ban is roundly ignored by Illinoisans is not a surprise to anyone, as the night skies prove on Independence Day.—
Brad Weisenstein,
Chicago Tribune,
5 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
The film can be a bit whiplash-inducing, as we’re forced to watch serious people make intelligent cases that humanity will be wiped from the planet within 20 years and that a literal utopia could be on the horizon.—
Christian Zilko,
IndieWire,
27 Jan. 2026
-
But while Musk was outlining this utopia, Autodesk was laying off 1,000 employees, betting on AI to automate their jobs.—
Sandy Carter,
Forbes.com,
26 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
Sold to Menemsha, genuinely tense and gorgeously shot, highlighting the heavenly mountains and a historical hell.—
John Hopewell,
Variety,
13 Feb. 2026
-
Anna Kournikova and Enrique Iglesias sparked engagement rumors when she was spotted on the court wearing this heavenly, 11-carat pink diamond.—
Christina Perrier,
InStyle,
10 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
What a moment of bliss this was!—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
10 Feb. 2026
-
The Florida heat only turns up the temperature for these two enemies turned co-workers, but is there a future of cool bliss?—
Amanda Favazza,
Southern Living,
6 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Or is there something really amiss in this paradise?—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
8 Feb. 2026
-
And while the visions of uncannily artificial paradise might recall Rousseau, or the curvy, geometrically rounded bodies suggest the work of Colombian Fernando Botero, Angulo’s young women appear more self-aware and self-assertive than the subjects of either of those artists.—
Benjamin Lima,
Dallas Morning News,
5 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Kendrick Lamar and Chanel are a match made in fashion heaven, and on Sunday night the two made history.—
Alexandra Hildreth,
Vogue,
2 Feb. 2026
-
Close by, Cassiopeia the Queen and Cepheus the King hang high in the northwest heavens in the early evening.—
Mike Lynch,
Twin Cities,
1 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Empyrean.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/empyrean. Accessed 16 Feb. 2026.
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