on earth
In this world
On earth is an intensifier used in questions and negative statements to express bewilderment, frustration, or emphasis: What on earth are you doing? , Where on earth did I put my keys? , There's no reason on earth to behave that way.
The phrase invokes the entire planet as the scope of possibility, heightening the speaker's incredulity or the extremity of a claim.
It functions like "in the world" but sounds slightly more emphatic. (Capitalized On Earth refers literally to the planet.)
- atmosphereGaseous layer around planets
- bewildermentState of being baffled
- lifeAnimate state
- actualityState of existing fact
- astonishmentIntense sudden wonder
exclamation · ever · humanity · ecosystem · emphasis · sake · why · disbelief · continent · survival · rhetorical · reality · wonder · mortality · presence · soil · impermanence · terrestrial
on earthin space
Beyond planetary atmosphere
off-world · extraterrestrial · in heaven · in the sky · interplanetary
earth, earthy, earthquake, earthly, earthen, earths, earthbound, earthling, earthlings