释义 |
tem·po·ral I. \ˈtemp(ə)rəl\ adjective Etymology: Middle English, from Latin temporalis, from tempor-, tempus period of time, fitting time, season, time (in general) + -alis -al; akin to Old Norse thambr swollen, thick, Lithuanian tempti to stretch, and probably to Latin tendere to stretch — more at thin 1. a. : of or relating to time as opposed to eternity : temporary, transitory < temporal matters of but fleeting moment — F.D.Roosevelt > b. : of or relating to earthly life as contrasted with heavenly : terrestrial < the same actual, prosaic, uninspired regard which he turned upon temporal matters — Hilaire Belloc > c. [Middle English, from Medieval Latin temporalis, from Latin] : of or relating to lay or secular concerns as opposed to clerical or sacred : civil, political < temporal courts > < temporal power > — see lord temporal 2. a. : of or relating to the quantity of syllables (as in Greek and Latin verse) b. : of or relating to grammatical tense : expressive of a distinction of time 3. : of or relating to time as distinguished from space or to a particular time : chronological < music is a temporal art — Hunter Mead > < all the external events of which we are aware are recorded as spatial and temporal patterns of excitation in the sense organs — E.D.Adrian > Synonyms: see profane II. noun (-s) Etymology: Middle English, from temporal, adjective : something temporal, secular, or material : temporality — usually used in plural < its temporals provided the church's revenue > III. noun (-s) Etymology: Middle French, from temporal, adjective : a temporal part (as a bone, muscle, or scale) IV. adjective Etymology: Middle French, from Late Latin temporalis, from Latin tempor-, tempus temple (of the head) + -alis -al — more at temple 1. : of or relating to the temples or the sides of the skull behind the orbits 2. : of or relating to the temporal bone 3. of a scale of a reptile : lying behind the postoculars and between the parietals and supralabials |