Mundane - Definitions from Dictionary.com

6 results for: Mundane

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

mun·dane

Audio Help [muhn-deyn, muhn-deyn] Pronunciation Key

–adjective

1.	of or pertaining to this world or earth as contrasted with heaven; worldly; earthly: mundane affairs.

2.	common; ordinary; banal; unimaginative.

3.	of or pertaining to the world, universe, or earth.

[Origin: 1425–75; < L mundānus, equiv. to mund(us) world + -ānus -ane; r. late ME mondeyne < MF mondain < L, as above

]

—Related forms

mun·dane·ly, adverb

mun·dane·ness, noun

—Synonyms 1. secular, temporal. See earthly.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

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Mundane

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

mun·dane Audio Help (mŭn-dān', mŭn'dān') Pronunciation Key
adj.

Of, relating to, or typical of this world; secular.
Relating to, characteristic of, or concerned with commonplaces; ordinary.

[Middle English mondeine, from Old French mondain, from Latin mundānus, from mundus, world.]

mun·dane'ly adv., mun·dane'ness, mun·dan'i·ty (-dān'ĭ-tē) n.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
mundane

1475, from M.Fr. mondain (12c.), from L. mundanus "belonging to the world" (as distinct from the Church), from mundus "universe, world," lit. "clean, elegant"; used as a transl. of Gk. khosmos (see cosmos) in its Pythagorean sense of "the physical universe" (the original sense of the Gk. word was "orderly arrangement"). L. mundus also was used of a woman's "ornaments, dress," and is related to the adj. mundus "clean, elegant" (used of women's dress, etc.).

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

mundane
adjective
1.	found in the ordinary course of events; "a placid everyday scene"; "it was a routine day"; "there's nothing quite like a real...train conductor to add color to a quotidian commute"- Anita Diamant [syn: everyday]
2.	concerned with the world or worldly matters; "mundane affairs"; "he developed an immense terrestrial practicality"
3.	belonging to this earth or world; not ideal or heavenly; "not a fairy palace; yet a mundane wonder of unimagined kind"; "so terrene a being as himself"

Free On-line Dictionary of Computing - Cite This Source - Share This

mundane jargon
Someone outside some group that is implicit from the context, such as the computer industry or science fiction fandom. The implication is that those in the group are special and those outside are just ordinary.
(2000-07-22)