firmament
/ˈfɜːməmənt/ (bre, ipa) · /ˈfɜːrməmənt/ (ame, ipa) · /ˈfər-mə-mənt/ (ame, mw)
firmament — noun
1. a literary or old-fashioned word for the sky, often pictured as a vast dome arch
a literary or old-fashioned word for the sky, often pictured as a vast dome arching above the earth where the sun, moon, and stars appear.
Noa lay back on the grass and gazed up at the dark firmament, counting shooting stars.
literary register: gazing at the firmament
Above the desert camp, the firmament glittered with thousands of stars no city dweller ever sees.
typical context: night sky away from city lights
The old poem describes how a single bright comet streaked across the evening firmament.
Saira pointed her telescope toward the western firmament, hoping to catch the planet rising.
In medieval thought, angels were believed to live high above the firmament, beyond human sight.
- sky
the everyday neutral word; use this in normal speech and writing
- heavens
also literary; often plural and slightly more religious in tone
- vault of heaven
very poetic fixed phrase, even rarer than 'firmament'
- earth
the ground below, contrasted with the sky above in poetic writing
文法句型
the firmament
用法筆記
Almost always used with 'the'. Belongs to poetic, religious, or old-fashioned writing — in everyday speech use 'sky' instead.