preterrestrial
English
Etymology
pre- + terrestrial
Adjective
preterrestrial (not comparable)
- Prior to the formation of Earth
- 1980, Eugenio Donato, “The Museum's Furnace”, in Textual Strategies, →ISBN, page 235:
- The System of the World of Laplace is the history of a preterrestrial era, the history of the world before the formation of the planet Earth, or if one prefers, of the Earth in its unity with the Sun.
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- (geology) Occurring prior to a meteorite's impact with Earth
- 2003, American Geological Institute, Dictionary of Mining, Mineral, and Related Terms, →ISBN, page 333:
- A plagioclase glass in some chondrites and irons formed by preterrestrial impact between meteorites in space.
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Derived terms
- preterrestrially
Related terms
- postterrestrial