Martian adj.

of or relating to the the planet Mars or its inhabitants

Demonyms

  • 1873 The Planet Mars in Cornhill Magazine July 98 page image

    We may fairly assume that the Martian atmosphere extends to a height of at least 100 miles from the planet’s surface.

  • 1873 The Planet Mars in Cornhill Magazine July 100 page image

    All the conditions of life in Mars, all that tends to the comfort and well being of Martian creatures, must differ so remarkably from what is known on earth, that to reasoning beings on Mars the idea of life on our earth must appear wild and fanciful in the extreme, if not altogether untenable.

  • [1877 N.Y. Times 12 Aug. 4/3

    If we could safely compare terrestrial with Martian geology…we might almost be tempted to find…an argument in favor of the theory that Mars passed through fewer stages of development during its life-bearing condition than our earth.]

  • 1898 H. G. Wells War of Worlds ii. ii. 210 H. G. Wells

    Long before the Martian invasion.

  • 1907 H. G. Bishop On the Martian Way in Broadway Magazine 1 Nov. 148/2 H. G. Bishop bibliography

    Two little Martian orphans, going back to relatives…were dancing boisterously around her, their big pear-shaped heads, stocky chests and pipestem legs contrasting strangely with the other children. [Ibid.] 152/2 On the platform, at the forward end of the room…the orchestra was discoursing some weird Martian melody.

  • 1956 C. D. Simak Time & Again ix. 42 Clifford D. Simak

    Earth news…was followed by Martian news.

  • 1993 K. S. Robinson Red Mars i. 9 Kim Stanley Robinson bibliography

    When he says we will make an indigenous Martian culture, he only means some of the Terran cultures here will be promoted.

  • 1993 K. S. Robinson Red Mars (1993) 285 Kim Stanley Robinson bibliography

    There are too many people coming up. You know that. They're not Martian, and they don’t care what happens here.

  • 2018 M. R. Kowal Fated Sky i. 16 Mary Robinette Kowal bibliography

    My heart ratcheted up, because this meant that the probe was about to enter the Martian atmosphere.

Research requirements

antedating 1873
Earliest cite

The Planet Mars: An Essay by a Whewellite
Research History
Kathleen Miller submitted an 1877 cite from the New York Times.
Bill Mullins submitted cites from articles in the magazine "Litttell's Living Age", apparently reprinted from earlier publication in Cornhill Magazine: "The Planet Mars: An Essay by a Whewellite" (August 23rd 1873), and "When the Sea Was Young" (September 2, 1876); Jesse Sheidlower converted this to the earlier appearance in Cornhill Magazine (July 1873).
Ben Ostrowsky submitted a 2018 cite from Mary Kowal's "Fated Sky".

Earliest cite in OED2: 1880. Antedated to 1877 in OED3 in March 2003.

Last modified 2021-02-24 02:41:07
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.