Alternative form of earthlike. [(of a planet) Resembling the Earth]
Used in a Sentence
earth-like
Definition, parts of speech, synonyms, and sentence examples for earth-like.
Editorial note
There's a good 7 million years near the beginning of the universe that in principle was inhabitable to Earth-like life.
Examples17
Definitions1
Parts of speech1
Quick take
Alternative form of earthlike. [(of a planet) Resembling the Earth]
Meaning at a glance
The clearest senses and uses of earth-like gathered in one view.
Definitions
Core meanings and parts of speech for earth-like.
adjective
Alternative form of earthlike. [(of a planet) Resembling the Earth]
Example sentences
There's a good 7 million years near the beginning of the universe that in principle was inhabitable to Earth-like life.
Can anyone recommend documentaries or non-fiction shows that explore the what-ifs of finding other earth-like planets?
At 1400 ly that would subtend a distance of 13 AU, so you wouldn't be able to find Earth-like planets.
But they wouldn't be looking for Earth-like planets to colonise - they'd be looking for much colder and more stable locations.
Why would an Earth-like planet not be overwhelmingly likely to have life on it?
Indeed, Kepler covers only 0.25% of the sky, and is only capable of detecting systems that are edge-on (around 0.47% probability for Earth-like planets)[1].
Only on HN would a discussion about the discovery of an earth-like planet devolve into a discussion on the proper use of time zones...
Note that earth-like similarity does not imply that it is habitable.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that Earth-like planets generally won't support life.
The largest assumption you made is that biological life evolves the same on every earth-like planet...and that all life from those planets fits our definition of biological.
Even if it was a 1.00 on the similarity scale, I'm more interested in finding out how habitable it would be for earth-like life.
Given the nature of the calculation, it probably would have been better to define perfectly Earth-like as zero, and assign positive indices to bodies, with higher numbers indicating greater dissimilarity to Earth.
Quote examples
The "Earth-like" idea has been debased to uselessness in press releases like this.
Nasa, yesterday said "It appears that Earth-like (habitable) planets are quite common".
(And to be clear, I am specifically complaining about the debasing of the term "Earth-like" for PR purposes.
"on the cusp of finding" is a much weaker statement than the current title "Earth-like planet discovered".
Proper noun examples
The reason Earth-like's are interesting is because we know what we're looking for when we go looking for life on them.
Frequently asked questions
Short answers drawn from the clearest meanings and examples for this word.
How do you use earth-like in a sentence?
There's a good 7 million years near the beginning of the universe that in principle was inhabitable to Earth-like life.
What does earth-like mean?
Alternative form of earthlike. [(of a planet) Resembling the Earth]
What part of speech is earth-like?
earth-like is commonly used as adjective.