temporal

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɛm.pə.ɹəl/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛmpəɹəl
• Rhymes: -ɒɹəl

From Middle English temporal, temporel (“transitory, worldly, material, of secular society”), from Old French temporel or Latin temporālis (“of time (in grammar), temporary, relating to time as opposed to eternity”), from tempus (“time, period, opportunity”) +‎ -ālis.

temporal (not generally comparable, comparative more temporal, superlative most temporal)

1. (relational) Of or relating to the material world, as opposed to sacred or clerical.

   temporal power, temporal courts

   The Right Honourable the Lords Spiritual and Temporal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled (The official title of the House of Lords)

   Synonyms: secular, lay, civil

   Antonyms: spiritual, ecclesiastical

   • 1945 September and October, C. Hamilton Ellis, “Royal Trains—V”, in Railway Magazine, page 252:

     The [papal] train was in use until 1871, when the Pope [Pius IX] lost his temporal power.

   • 2011, Thomas Penn, Winter King: The Dawn of Tudor England, Penguin Books, page 166:

     Not long before, he had ruefully acknowledged in a letter to his pious mother that most of his appointments to the bench of bishops had been motivated by distinctly temporal impulses.

2. (relational) Relating to time:
   1. Of limited time, transient, passing, not perpetual, as opposed to eternal.
      • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Corinthians 4:18:

        The things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

      1. (euphemistic) Lasting for a short time only.
   2. Of or relating to time as distinguished from space.
   3. Of or relating to the sequence of time or to a particular time.

      Synonym: chronological

   4. (grammar) Relating to or denoting time or tense.

temporal (plural temporals)

1. (chiefly in the plural) Anything temporal or secular; a temporality.
   • 1684, John Dryden, The History of the League, translation of Histoire de la Ligue by Louis Maimbourg:

     for God's people love always to be dealing as well in temporals as spirituals

   • 1876, James Russell Lowell, “Dante”, in Among My Books. Second Series., Boston, Mass.: James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, late Ticknor & Fields, and Fields, Osgood, & Co., →OCLC, page 30:

     He assigns supremacy to the pope in spirituals, and to the emperor in temporals.

From Middle English, from Middle French timporal, temporal, from Late Latin temporālis, from tempora (“the temples of the head”) +‎ -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix). Doublet of temporalis.

temporal (not comparable)

2. (anatomy, relational) Of or situated in the temples of the head or the sides of the skull behind the orbits.

temporal (plural temporals)

1. (anatomy) Ellipsis of temporal bone.
2. (zootomy) Any of a reptile's scales on the side of the head between the parietal and supralabial scales, and behind the postocular scales.

• “temporal”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “temporal”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “temporal”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Borrowed from Latin temporālis.

• IPA^(key): (Central) [təm.puˈɾal]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [təm.poˈɾal]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [tem.poˈɾal]
• Rhymes: -al

temporal m (plural temporals)

1. storm

temporal m or f (masculine and feminine plural temporals)

1. temporary
2. temporal

• lòbul temporal
• temporalment

• temps

• “temporal” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “temporal”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “temporal” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “temporal” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

temporàl m

1. (Luserna) thunderstorm

• Patuzzi, Umberto, ed., (2013) Luserna / Lusérn: Le nostre parole / Ünsarne börtar / Unsere Wörter [Our Words], Luserna, Italy: Comitato unitario delle isole linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien

Borrowed from New Latin temporālis, from tempus (“temple”) (whence tempe).

• IPA^(key): /tɑ̃.pɔ.ʁal/

temporal (feminine temporale, masculine plural temporaux, feminine plural temporales)

1. (anatomy) temporal

   lobe temporal ― temporal lobe

• Not to be confused with temporel.

• os temporal

• “temporal”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

 

13th century. Learned borrowing from Latin temporālis, from tempus (“time”).

• IPA^(key): /tɛmpoˈɾal/

temporal m or f (plural temporais)

1. temporal, pertaining to time
2. temporal, transient, as opposed to eternal
3. temporal, pertaining to the temples of the head
4. (grammar) of a grammatical case in Hungarian

• temporalmente

temporal m (plural temporais)

1. (weather) rainstorm

   Synonyms: ballón, invernada

2. (weather) windstorm

   Synonym: vendaval

3. (weather) tempest

   Synonym: tempestade

temporal m (plural temporais)

1. (anatomy) the temporal bone

• Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “temporal”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “temporal”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: ILG
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “temporal”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “temporal”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “temporal”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

• IPA^(key): /tɛmpoˈʁaːl/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aːl

temporal (strong nominative masculine singular temporaler, not comparable)

1. temporal

   Synonym: zeitlich

Borrowed from Late Latin temporālis, from Latin tempus (“time”).

temporal (neuter singular temporalt, definite singular and plural temporale)

1. temporal (related to time)
2. temporal (related to the temples)

• temporalia

• temporær

• “temporal” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “temporal” in The Ordnett Dictionary

• Rhymes: (Portugal) -al, (Brazil) -aw
• Hyphenation: tem‧po‧ral

Learned borrowing from Latin temporālis (“temporal”), from tempus (“season, time, opportunity”), from Proto-Indo-European *tempos (“stretch”).

temporal m or f (plural temporais, not comparable)

1. temporal (relating to time)

   Synonym: crónico

2. secular

   Synonym: secular

• atemporal

From tempo (“weather”).

temporal m (plural temporais)

1. downpour; heavy rain

   Synonyms: tempestade, vendaval

From têmpora (“temple of the head”).

temporal m (plural temporais)

1. temporal bone

• osso

• crânio

• occipital, parietal, frontal, esfenoide, etmoide

Borrowed from French temporel.

temporal m or n (feminine singular temporală, masculine plural temporali, feminine and neuter plural temporale)

1. temporal (bone)

Borrowed from Latin temporālis.

• IPA^(key): /tempoˈɾal/ [t̪ẽm.poˈɾal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: tem‧po‧ral

temporal m or f (masculine and feminine plural temporales)

1. temporal (of or relating to time)
2. temporary

   Synonym: temporario

3. (anatomy) temporal (of the temples of the head)

temporal m (plural temporales)

1. storm

   Synonyms: tempestad, vendaval

• “temporal”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28