terra firma
UK/ˌtɛɹ.ə ˈfɜː.mə//ˌtɛɹ.ə ˈfɝ.mə/
terra firma noun: continental land, as distinguished from islands.
Noun
terra firma (uncountable)
- Continental land, as distinguished from islands.
- Near-synonym: mainland
- Synonyms:
- mainland
- Land, as opposed to water or air.
- Near-synonyms: dry land, solid ground
- I […] turned the handle softly, pushed – also softly – and, carrying on into the interior, found myself confronted by a girl in housemaid's costume who put a hand to her throat like somebody in a play and leaped several inches in the direction of the ceiling. “Coo!” she said, having returned to...1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter VII
- Synonyms:
- dry land, on solid ground
- Familiar territory (in a figurative sense); real-world concerns.
- Near-synonym: solid ground
- It's nice to be back on terra firma after a long session of analyzing the philosopher's abstruse theories.
- Synonyms:
- on solid ground
- Antonyms:
- castle in the air, air castle, pie in the sky, pipe dream
terra firma meaning in Tamil, Urdu and Kannada
terra firma in Tamil
- திஐணிலம், கரம்பு நிலம், நிலம்
terra firma in Urdu
- سرزمین
terra firma in Kannada
- ಸ್ಥಿರಭೂಮಿ, ಗಟ್ಟಿನೆಲ
Examples of terra firma in a sentence
- “Coo!” she said, having returned to terra firma and taken aboard a spot of breath.1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter VII:
- Reize is a floaty character (thanks to that scarf), so this kick can be great for quickly getting back to terra firma or to that game-winning gem!2019 November 13, “Reize – Showdown Character Highlight”, in yachtclubgames.com, Yacht Club Games, archived from the original on 27 Nov...
Synonyms of terra firma
Antonyms
Origin of terra firma
Learned borrowing from Latin terra firma (“solid land”).
Questions about terra firma
- What does terra firma mean?
- Terra firma means continental land, as distinguished from islands.
- What is terra firma in Tamil?
- Terra firma in Tamil is திஐணிலம், கரம்பு நிலம், நிலம். See Terra firma meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use terra firma in a sentence?
- “Coo!” she said, having returned to terra firma and taken aboard a spot of breath.
- What part of speech is terra firma?
- Terra firma is a noun.
- How do you pronounce terra firma?
- Terra firma is pronounced /ˌtɛɹ.ə ˈfɜː.mə/ (UK).
Words near terra firma in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: terra firma (page history and authors); terra firma (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); terra firma (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); terra firma (Kannada Wiktionary) (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Persent101-terra firma.wav.
Cite this entry: “terra firma.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/terra_firma. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.