Word.ws English Dictionary

terrestrial time

terrestrial time noun: a time standard proposed by Sandford Fleming in the late 19th century to replace Greenwich time and Paris time by one that is universally adopted. Also the alternative letter-case form of Terrestrial Time.

Noun

terrestrial time

  1. A time standard proposed by Sandford Fleming in the late 19th century to replace Greenwich time and Paris time by one that is universally adopted.
    • Whenever exact time was required for any purpose, terrestrial time, assuming it to be in general use, would be available.1879, Sanford Fleming, Uniform Non-local Time (terrestrial Time), page 23
    • Sanford Fleming, director of the Canadian Pacific Railway, insisted on the necessary introduction of a uniform time for the whole world: terrestrial time. Whereas Dowd's national system only encompassed North American railroads, Fleming's terrestrial time extended around the world and was called...2013, Luchien Karsten, Globalization and Time, page 17
  2. Time based on the time system used on Earth, consisting of 24-hour days.

Proper noun capitalized: Terrestrial Time

Terrestrial Time

  1. A modern astronomical time standard defined by the International Astronomical Union, primarily for time-measurements of astronomical observations made from the surface of the Earth.

Also used as

terrestrial time is also the alternative letter-case form of Terrestrial Time.

Synonyms of terrestrial time

Forms of terrestrial time

alternative formterrestrial time

Questions about terrestrial time

What does terrestrial time mean?
Terrestrial time means a time standard proposed by Sandford Fleming in the late 19th century to replace Greenwich time and Paris time by one that is universally adopted.
What part of speech is terrestrial time?
Terrestrial time can be a noun or a proper noun.

Words near terrestrial time in the dictionary

  1. terrestrial navigations
  2. terrestrial planet
  3. terrestrial planets
  4. terrestrial telescope
  5. terrestrial telescopes
  6. terrestrial time
  7. terrestrialisation
  8. terrestrialise
  9. terrestrialised
  10. terrestrialism
  11. terrestrialist

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: terrestrial time (page history and authors); Terrestrial Time (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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