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Temporal existence is often contrasted with spiritual existence, which many religions teach is eternal. The American system of government features a separation of church and state—that is, a separation of spiritual and temporal authority. But such separation is relatively recent. In past centuries, the Roman Catholic Church exerted temporal authority—that is, political power—throughout much of Europe, and the Church of England has always been officially headed by the temporal ruler of Great Britain. Temporal isn't always used in religious contexts; for example, child psychologists often measure "temporal processing"—that is, speed of thinking—in children with mental difficulties. Note that temporal may also mean "near the temples (of the head);" thus, your brain's temporal lobes are situated at your temples. But this temporal is based on a different Latin root.
Examples of temporal in a Sentence
Flynne Bachleda, Publisher's Weekly, 15 Aug. 1994
By eschewing history and politics, The Last Train From Madrid leeches war of its particular temporal context, providing an eight-year-old with his first glimpse of war as eternal anonymous suffering.
—Donald Hall, Harper's, May 1991
… each in their own way wanted an authority which could both uphold the law and maintain the order of society; once the first age was over, the consequence of this was the de facto separation between those who maintained the law … and the men of the sword who had the power to enforce temporal order.
—Albert Hourani, A History of the Arab Peoples, 1991
The history of life is not a continuum of development, but a record punctuated by brief, sometimes geologically instantaneous, episodes of mass extinction and subsequent diversification. The geological time scale maps this history, for fossils provide our chief criterion in fixing the temporal order of rocks.
—Stephen Jay Gould, Wonderful Life, 1989
do not worry about temporal concerns, but instead focus on spiritual matters
administrators on campus are in place to deal with students' temporal needs, and spiritual advisors are available to help students with their nontemporal needs
JSTOR Daily, 30 Oct. 2025
Integrative regions such as the temporal poles and insular cortex allow both positive and negative events to fit together, potentially into a framework that facilitates long-term well-being.
—Anthony Vaccaro, Scientific American, 29 Oct. 2025
This temporal displacement frees Pynchon to offer sidelong commentary on contemporary politics without getting trapped in the flux of the present or being too on the nose.
—Jack Denton, Vulture, 6 Oct. 2025
To practice ‘future temporal focused’ networking, create a timetable and ask yourself key questions.
—Sarah Maokosy, Fortune, 4 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for temporal
Cite this Entry
“Temporal.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/temporal. Accessed 4 Nov. 2025.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
temporal
1 of 3 adjective
temporal
2 of 3 nountemporal
3 of 3 adjective
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