otherworldly means of, concerned with, or preoccupied with a world different from the tangible world, especially a fantasy, imaginary, or mystical world. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 74 out of 100.
Why this word is great
OTHERWORLDLY — [Adjective] Resembling or pertaining to a realm fundamentally separate from the tangible, everyday world, often one that is spiritual, mystical, or imaginary. From the phrase other world ("a world beyond death or different from the everyday world") + -ly (suffix meaning 'having the likeness of, resembling'). Unlike "ethereal," which emphasizes an insubstantial, heavenly delicacy, or "uncanny," which evokes a disturbing familiarity, "otherworldly" posits a distinct and coherent elsewhere, evoking awe rather than unease. It is the cold, mineral glow of bioluminescence in a lightless trench; the stark silence that falls upon a forest as snow begins to drift; the unsettling grace of a creature whose anatomy follows an alien logic. Each is a momentary puncture in the fabric of the ordinary, a sensory proof that the map of the world is incomplete.
adj
- Of, concerned with, or preoccupied with a world different from the tangible world, especially a fantasy, imaginary, or mystical world.“In Just My Type: A Book about Fonts (2010) Simon Garfield describes [Edward] Johnston as 'a gaunt fine-boned man with a full moustache', and there's a picture of him at work with a quill pen that makes him look as other-worldly as a medieval sprite.”
- Of, concerned with, or preoccupied with a world different from the tangible world, especially a fantasy, imaginary, or mystical world.; Odd and unfamiliar; strange, uncanny, weird.“He had not seen cricket played since the war began; it seemed almost other-worldly, with the click of the bats, and the shrill young voices, under the distant drone of that sky-hornet threshing along to Hendon.”
- Of, concerned with, or preoccupied with spiritual matters.“Every religion that becomes ascendant, in so far as it is not other-worldly, must necessarily set its stamp upon the methods and administration of the law.”
- Of or relating to the imagination or intellect.“It is easy with the other-worldly gifts to be a schöne Seele [beautiful soul]; but to the large vision of [Johann Wolfgang von] Goethe that seemed to be a phase of life that a man might feel all round and leave behind him.”