firmament
pronunciation
How to pronounce firmament in British English:
UK [ˈfɜ:məmənt]
How to pronounce firmament in American English:
US [ˈfɜrməmənt]
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- Noun:
- the apparent surface of the imaginary sphere on which celestial bodies appear to be projected
Word Origin
- firmament (n.)
- mid-13c., from Old French firmament or directly from Latin firmamentum "firmament," literally "a support, a strengthening," from firmus "strong, steadfast, enduring" (see firm (adj.)). Used in Late Latin in the Vulgate to translate Greek stereoma "firm or solid structure," which translated Hebrew raqia, a word used of both the vault of the sky and the floor of the earth in the Old Testament, probably literally "expanse," from raqa "to spread out," but in Syriac meaning "to make firm or solid," hence the erroneous translation. Related: Firmamental.
Example
- 1. Perhaps that is because the brightest stars in the evangelical firmament are these days in the political , not the religious business .
- 2. Worse , just as talk of mr rubio as one of the fastest-rising stars in the republican firmament should have been reaching a new intensity , a report came that mitt romney was not , as had been universally assumed , considering mr rubio as a running-mate .
- 3. To behold a rift in the immense blue pane of the firmament !
- 4. And god called the firmament heaven .
- 5. And god set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth .