What does "neptunian" mean?
A sailor.
Neptunian
/nɛpˈtjuː.nɪ.ən/ adj, noun
adj, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A sailor.
- Grammar: neptunian is listed as adj, noun.
- Nearest alternatives: sailor.
- Usage evidence: When now the Gods have made proud Ilion fall, / and Asia's power and Priam's race renowned / o'erwhelmed in ruin undeserved, and all / Neptunian Troy lies smouldering on the ground, / in desert lands, to diverse exile bound, / celestial portents bid us forth to fare; / where Ida's heights above Antandros frowned, / a fleet we build, and gather crews, unware / which way the Fates will lead, what home is ours and where.
How to use "neptunian"
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Meaning check
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Source and review context
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Before you rely on this definition
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Compare nearby meanings
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Definition decision workflow
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Check whether "neptunian" is acting as adj, noun in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
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Definitions
Noun
- 1 A sailor. obsolete
"You braue Neptunians, you ſalt water crew, / Sea-plowing Marriners; I ſpeake to you: [...]"
- 2 A person under the astrological influence of the planet Neptune.
"To a Neptunian the common satisfaction of life seems too banal, and he often seeks the hidden mysteries of life. The advanced soul however realises that life is a dream, and a divine dream at that."
- 3 Alternative letter-case form of Neptunian. alt-of
"As to the two theories, neither will suffice alone. The neptunian is utterly inadequate to explain the phenomena of basalt; nor can a vulcanist account for the appearance of an hydrophane.—We need both explanations. Those geologists who have travelled in the north of Europe, are generally neptunians; those who have made their observations in the south of the same regions, are generally vulcanists."
- 4 A proponent of Neptunism. historical
"We are not ourselves, bigotted Neptunians or Vulcanians: we perceive difficulties whichever theory be adopted: and provided the earth be but stable under us, we are not anxiously jealous for the dignity of the trident-wielding power, or for the honour of the hammer-working deity."
- 5 An (imaginary) inhabitant of the planet Neptune.
"I need not say that from Neptune the earth is completely invisible, as well as Mercury, Venus, and Jupiter. Saturn is a little star which departs from the sun up to 18°. For the Neptunians the solar system appears to be composed of the sun, Saturn, Uranus, their own world, and the planet which doubtless gravitates beyond Neptune."
Adjective
- 1 Of or pertaining to Neptune, the Roman god of fresh water and the sea, the counterpart of the Greek god Poseidon. Roman, not-comparable
"Near-synonym: Poseidonian"
- 2 Pertaining to the astrological influence of the planet Neptune. not-comparable
"The Sun represents a masculine principle—assertion, expression and spirit. Neptune touching it brings in the qualities of sensitivity and creativity as well as weakness, dissolution, dissipation and elusiveness. If we take the Sun to represent the image of father, the person's experience of father (the Sun) will be coloured by Neptune. The father will receive the Neptunian projection and the child with this aspect will be sensitive to the father's Neptunian side."
- 3 Alternative letter-case form of Neptunian. alt-of, not-comparable
"In several important cases, it is difficult to determine to what degree the metamorphosis has extended, since it remains uncertain whether the form and structural remains of the neptunian sedimentary formation, or as a product of the metamorphosis itself; for the original form of the neptunian, as well as of the volcanic sedimentary rocks have often become so changed by erosion, and so much alike in both classes of rocks, that this distinctive character is wholly lost; [...]"
- 4 Of or pertaining to water or the sea. broadly, not-comparable, rare
"Tyrian garbs, / Neptunian Albion's high teſtaceous food [i.e., oysters], / And flavour'd Chian wines with incenſe fum'd / To ſlake Patrician thirſt: for theſe, their rights / In the vile ſtreets they proſtitute to ſale; / Their ancient rights, their dignities, their laws, / Their native glorious freedom."
- 5 Of or pertaining to the planet Neptune. not-comparable
"After making a sketch of the Neptunian regions for the dates from 1790 to 1800, I soon came to the conclusion that the nights of the 8th and 10th of May, 1795, were the only ones that afforded a reasonable prospect of furnishing an observation of Neptune, and accordingly computed for the evening of the 10th of May, the limits of the Neptunian region, or in other words the locus of Neptune as a fixed star, [...]"
Show 2 more definitions
- 6 Formed by the action of water. broadly, not-comparable
"neptunian dyke"
- 7 Of, pertaining to, or supporting Neptunism (“a discredited theory that rocks were formed from the crystallisation of minerals in the early Earth's oceans”). broadly, historical, not-comparable
"In the Neptunian ſyſtem it is ſuppoſed that the poſitions of the ſtrata have been determined, partly by the figure of the baſe or ground on which they have been depoſited, and partly by their depoſition having been a ſpecies of cryſtallization."
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
"When now the Gods have made proud Ilion fall, / and Asia's power and Priam's race renowned / o'erwhelmed in ruin undeserved, and all / Neptunian Troy lies smouldering on the ground, / in desert lands, to diverse exile bound, / celestial portents bid us forth to fare; / where Ida's heights above Antandros frowned, / a fleet we build, and gather crews, unware / which way the Fates will lead, what home is ours and where."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "neptunian"?
Common synonyms include: sailor.
How do you use "neptunian" in a sentence?
When now the Gods have made proud Ilion fall, / and Asia's power and Priam's race renowned / o'erwhelmed in ruin undeserved, and all / Neptunian Troy lies smouldering on the ground, / in desert lands, to diverse exile bound, / celestial portents bid us forth to fare; / where Ida's heights above Antandros frowned, / a fleet we build, and gather crews, unware / which way the Fates will lead, what home is ours and where.
How do you pronounce "neptunian"?
Pronounced /nɛpˈtjuː.nɪ.ən/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Latin Neptūnius (“of or pertaining to the Roman god Neptune”), from Neptūnus (“the Roman god Neptune”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *nebʰ- (“to become damp, cloudy”)) + -ius (suffix forming adjectives from nouns); analysable as Neptune + -ian. The English word is cognate with French neptunien (“pertaining to the Roman god Neptune, pertaining to the sea, pertaining to Neptunism, Neptunian; proponent of Neptunism, Neptunist”), German Neptunier (“proponent of Neptunism, Neptunist”).
Etymology 2
From Neptune (“eighth planet in the solar system”) + -ian.