face of the earth
49
3.8
- noun
:
superficie de la Tierra
- " You act like this is a new thing on the face of the earth.
- disappear from the face of the earth
- change the face of the earth
Iran's just doing all its thing and trying to wipe Israel off the face of the earth.
- Iran's just doing all its thing and trying to wipe Israel off the face of the earth.
- It could wipe Japan off the face of the Earth.
- And you know that that office, that position, the highest office on the face of the earth.
- But they were the most critical human beings like that ever walked the face of the earth.
- This is the smartest, most advanced, incredibly powerful creature currently on the face of the Earth.
- And I tell you, this is the greatest pistol there has ever been on the face of the earth.
- But Paul realized it has this incredible quality, something new on the face of the earth.
- Truly existential threats are things that will wipe you off the face of the earth, right?
- And you know that that office, that position, not the highest office on the face of the earth.
- This girl is a diamond, a little cathonic spirit that roams tirelessly over the face of the earth.
- I, I, I don't, I do not think that I appear to be a wealthy person when I walk the face of the earth.
Examples
-
- Believe me... he'll be gone from the face of the earth fast.
-
There's no other place on the face of the earth that I have lived in so long.
Academic text (2008) -
But but also like, even if I just fell off the face of the earth, why is that a bad thing?
-
All of a sudden, it was as if you fell off the face of the earth.
Fiction book (1996) -
America is the greatest country on the face of the earth... and I want to say: God bless America!
-
You have become the most valuable human specimen existing today on the face of the earth.
-
Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.
Fiction book (1993) -
I just feel like I'm one of the baddest to ever walk the face of the Earth, you know?
-
Did a more stunning angel walk on the face of the earth, Darian wondered?
Fiction book (2000) -
There are many unique animals living on the face of the earth that we have yet to discover.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
The planet where people live
838
2.8
The state of being real or alive
363
1.0
The ground or soil under your feet
211
1.0
The whole Earth and all the people and places on it
15
2.7
The outer layer of the Earth that includes land and oceans where life lives
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'surface of the world' is directly built from 'face' (front/surface) + 'Earth' (the world), so a B1 learner who knows the constituents can infer the literal sense. The frequent metonymic extension to mean 'anywhere in the world' is a predictable, cross-linguistically common shift from surface to whole-location, making the expression compositional and readily understandable.
Etymology
Face of the earth imagines the world as a person: the face is the part we see, so the 'face of the earth' came to mean the 'surface of the world' and, by extension, 'anywhere in the world'.