Celestial
adj, noun, slang ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 An inhabitant of heaven.
"For the celestials communicate by the psychic dispatch. Scriptures prove that."
- 2 a person from the Celestial Empire (usually associated with the period of the Qing Dynasty) historical
"However, with true Celestial pertinacity, `John' has stuck to his work."
- 3 A native of China. capitalized, obsolete, sometimes
"Three celestials died during the voyage, and, in accordance with the contract, their remains were embalmed and carried on to China."
- 4 by extension, an East Asian person. obsolete, slang
- 1 Synonym of heavenly: of or related to Heaven and the divine.
"Thus ſhall my heart be ſtil combinde with thine, Untill our bodies turne to Elements: And both our ſoules aſpire celeſtiall thrones."
- 2 Coming from or having to do with Fredericton, New Brunswick. poetic
- 3 Relating to the sky or outer space, regarded as the realm of the sun, moon, planets, and stars.
"The twelve celestial signs."
- 4 Of or pertaining to the highest degree of glory. Mormonism
"We are now living and obeying celestial laws that will make us candidates for celestial glory."
- 5 Extremely good, pleasant, or blissful; heavenly.
"[Reader:] A really bad coconut is soooo yukky. But a really good coconut is so celestial. [...] If you can hear the milk sloshing inside, odds are you’ve got a celestial coconut rather than a yukky one."
- 1 of heaven or the spirit wordnet
- 2 relating to or inhabiting a divine heaven wordnet
- 3 of or relating to the sky wordnet
Example
More examples"A cost-effective way to explore the Solar System was to send thousands of robotic probes to scour celestial bodies for data."
Etymology
From Middle English celestial, from Old French celestial, from Medieval Latin caelestialis, from Latin caelestis, from caelum (“sky, heaven”). The meanings related to East Asia come from Celestial Empire, a former name of China.
From the Celestial Empire, a colloquialism for the Chinese Empire / Empire of China / Imperial China.
After the name Celestial City.
Related phrases
More for "celestial"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.