Part of speech: noun
Origin: Old French, mid-13th century
The heavens or the sky, especially when regarded as a tangible thing.
A sphere or world viewed as a collection of people.
Examples of Firmament in a sentence
"Thunder clapped in the stormy firmament."
"The pro tennis firmament has many strong contenders this year. "
Popularity Over Time
This word comes from the Old French “firmament” by way of the Latin “firmamentum,” meaning "a support, a strengthening." It comes from “firmus,” meaning "strong, steadfast, enduring."
Did you Know?
The notion of the Earth’s firmament as a solid dome with the moon, sun, planets, and stars embedded in it has a long history. Around the third century BCE, Aristotle exchanged that idea for a spherical Earth surrounded by solid spheres, arguing that the heavens were perfect and that a sphere was the perfect geometrical figure. This was the dominant school of thought in the Classical and Medieval world view until the late 16th century, when astronomers like Tycho Brahe and Giordano Bruno challenged this supposed heavenly perfection.