tellurians

Adjective

tellurian (not comparable)

1. (formal, literary) Of or relating to the earth; (specifically, chiefly science fiction) inhabiting planet Earth as opposed to other planets.
   • It certainly appears difficult to reconcile with known facts the opinion maintained by [Carl] Linnæus and by [Thomas] Pennant, which is, indeed, a very prevalent one, that all the tribes of tellurian animals now existing have descended from a stock that was preserved in the ark of Noah.1836, James Cowles Prichard, “Notes on the Contents of the First Book”, in Researches into the Physical History of Mankind, 3rd edition, volume I, London: Sherwood, Gilbert, and Piper, […]; and J....

   Synonyms:

   earthly, telluric, terrene, terrestrial

2. Of a planet, being composed primarily of silicate rocks or metals; see also terrestrial planet.
3. Of a mineral: containing tellurium.
   • The tellurian mineral from Goldfield, Nevada, described originally as goldfieldite by Ransome (1909), was proven to be tellurian tennantite by X-ray powder diffraction (Thompson 1946).1986, Katsuo Kase, “Tellurian Tennantite from the Besshi-type Deposits in the Sambagawa Metamorphic Belt, Japan”, in The Canadian Mineralogist, volume 24, number 2, page 400, column 1

See all 4 meanings of tellurian