Word.ws English Dictionary

neptunian

Syllables: Nep·tun·i·an/nɛpˈtjuː.nɪ.ən/US/nɛpˈt(j)u.ni.ən/

neptunian is the alternative letter-case form of Neptunian.

Adjective (1) capitalized: Neptunian

Neptunian (not comparable)

  1. (Roman) Of or pertaining to Neptune, the Roman god of fresh water and the sea, the counterpart of the Greek god Poseidon.
    • Near-synonym: Poseidonian
    • The Tomb disburd'ning, whence the Ghoſt aroſe / Of great Achilles; Such when Thracian Foes / (The Prelude of thy Fates, Troy!) he o'rethrew, / And the white hair'd Neptunian Cycnus [i.e., Neptune's son] ſlew.1679, Lucius Annaeus Seneca [i.e., Seneca the Younger], translated by Edward Sherburne, Troades: Or The Royal Captives. A Tragedy, Written Originally in Latin, […], London: Printed by Anne Godbid...
    Synonyms:
    Poseidonian
  2. (broadly, rare) Of or pertaining to water or the sea.
    • 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...1740, John Dyer, “The Ruins of Rome. A Poem.”, in Poems. … Viz. I. Grongar Hill. II. The Ruins of Rome. III. The Fleece, in Four Books, London: Printed by John Hughs, for Messrs. R[obert] and J[ames]...
    • Where the inſulting ſtreams of Chaos roar, / Where boiſt'rous waves the rugged ſhores ſurround, / And ſtorms and whirlwinds in the air abound, / There meet two rivals of Neptunian race, / Hoſtilities begin with fierce grimace: [...]1774 November, G. D., “The Tar’s Engagement”, in Sylvanus Urban [pseudonym; Edward Cave], editor, The Gentleman’s Magazine, and Historical Chronicle, volume XLIV, London: Printed […], for D[avid]...
  3. (broadly) Formed by the action of water.
    • neptunian dyke
    • A special character of these mounds [the Kess-Kess carbonate mud mounds] is the numerous Neptunian dikes. These are fracture systems, which have been filled with other sediments and minerals. It is suspected that these dikes represent spring conduits (seeps) during the formation of the mounds, and...2008, Martin Hovland, “Ancient and Modern Analogues”, in Deep-water Coral Reefs: Unique Biodiversity Hot-spots (Springer–Praxis Books in Life Sciences Incorporating Aquatic and Marine Sciences)...
  4. (broadly, historical) Of, pertaining to, or supporting Neptunism (“a discredited theory that rocks were formed from the crystallisation of minerals in the early Earth's oceans”).
    • 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.1802, [John Murray], “Part III. Of the Arguments in Support of the Huttonian and Neptunian Theories, from the Positions of the Strata of the Globe.”, in A Comparative View of the Huttonian and...
    • 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 relations of the mountain-mass are to be considered as remains of the neptunian sedimentary formation, or as a product of the...1848 April, B[ernhard] Studer, “On Mineral Metamorphism”, in Robert Jameson, editor, The Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, Exhibiting a View of the Progressive Discoveries and Improvements in the...

Noun (1) capitalized: Neptunian

Neptunian (plural Neptunians)

  1. (obsolete) A sailor.
    • You braue Neptunians, you ſalt water crew, / Sea-plowing Marriners; I ſpeake to you: [...]1620, John Taylor, The Praise of Hemp-seed: With the Voyage of Mr. Roger Bird and the Writer hereof, in a Boat of Brown-paper, from London to Quinborough in Kent. […], printed at London: For H....
  2. (historical) A proponent of Neptunism.
    • 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.1807 October, “View of the Mineralogy, Agriculture, Manufactures, and Fisheries, of the Island of Arran, […] by the Rev. James Headrick. pp. 395. Price 10s. 6d. Constable and Co. Edinburgh: Murray...
    • Its [obsidian's] origin is warmly contested between the Neptunians and Plutonians, many of the latter denominating it a vitreous lava.1813, John Mason Good, Olinthus Gregory, Newton Bosworth, “OBSIDIAN”, in Pantologia. A New Cyclopædia, Comprehending a Complete Series of Essays, Treatises, and Systems, Alphabetically Arranged; […]...
    Synonyms:
    Neptunist

Adjective (2) capitalized: Neptunian

Neptunian (not comparable)

  1. Pertaining to the astrological influence of the planet Neptune.
    • 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...1987, Liz Greene, Howard Sasportas, “Your Inborn Images”, in The Development of the Personality: Seminars in Psychological Astrology, volume 1, Boston, Mass.: Red Wheel/Weiser, →ISBN, part 1 (The...
  2. Of or pertaining to the planet Neptune.
    • 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...1851, Sears C[ook] Walker, “Researches Relative to the Planet Neptune”, in Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, volume II, Washington, D.C.: Published by the Smithsonian Institution, →OCLC...
    • The planet Uranus, in like manner, detached, in process of time, a satellite, followed, in the progress of the cosmic ages, by seven others. A slow disturbing influence, supposed also to be recognized in the Neptunian system, has manifested itself in the Uranian, in an excessive obliquity of the...1874 January, [Alexander Winchell], “Art. V.—The Unity of the Physical World.”, in D. D. Whedon, editor, Methodist Quarterly Review, volume XXVI (4th Series; volume LVI overall), New York, N.Y....

Noun (2) capitalized: Neptunian

Neptunian (plural Neptunians)

  1. 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.1983, Shakuntala Devi, “Characteristics of the Planets”, in Astrology for You, New Delhi: Orient Paperbacks, published 2007, →ISBN, page 54
    • Often the Neptunian cannot bring his or her fantasies to birth in form because the fantasy world remains a surrogate womb, static rather than flowing, a place of painless oblivion rather than a bridge between human and divine.2000, Liz Greene, “Neptune and the Artist”, in The Astrological Neptune and the Quest for Redemption, 1st paperback edition, York Beach, Me.: Samuel Weiser, Inc., →ISBN, page 324
  2. 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...1894, Camille Flammarion, “The Planet Neptune and the Frontiers of the Solar Domain”, in J[ohn] Ellard Gore, transl., Popular Astronomy: A General Description of the Heavens: … Translated from the...
    • We learn the energy quotient of a bogus Earthling, note how much it varies from that of a genuine one, and then proceed to carefully single out every Neptunian. It will take time, no doubt, but not perhaps as long as we think, as the percentage of Neptunians to Earthlings is small.1952, John Russell Fearn, chapter 12, in Quorne Returns (The Golden Amazon Saga; book 6), [Rockville, Md.]: Wildside Press, published 2013, →ISBN, page 102

Synonyms of neptunian

7 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

Forms of neptunian

Noun
pluralneptunians
pluralNeptunians
Adjective
alternative formneptunian

Origin of neptunian

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”).

From Neptune (“eighth planet in the solar system”) + -ian.

Words formed from neptunian

Phrases with neptunian

Questions about neptunian

What does neptunian mean?
Neptunian means of or pertaining to Neptune, the Roman god of fresh water and the sea, the counterpart of the Greek god Poseidon.
What is neptunian the alternative letter-case form of?
Neptunian is the alternative letter-case form of Neptunian.
What part of speech is neptunian?
Neptunian can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce neptunian?
Neptunian is pronounced /nɛpˈtjuː.nɪ.ən/ (UK).

Words near neptunian in the dictionary

  1. Neptune's cup
  2. Neptune's cups
  3. Neptune's Fix
  4. Neptunean
  5. Neptuneans
  6. neptunian
  7. Neptunian planet
  8. Neptunian planets
  9. neptunians
  10. neptunic
  11. Neptunicentric

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: neptunian (page history and authors); Neptunian (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-Neptunian.oga.

Cite this entry: “neptunian.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/neptunian. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.