on earth
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.05 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
1
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
prep_phrase
Expletive used for emphasis after an interrogative word.
prep_phrase
Alternative letter-case form of on earth.
Example Sentences
- "How on earth did you manage to pull that off?"
- "What on earth does he want?"
- "Who on earth would do such a thing?"
- "Really, if the lower orders don’t set us a good example, what on earth is the use of them? They seem, as a class, to have absolutely no sense of moral responsibility."
- "A. Fink-Nottle: But it's absolute balderdash, Bertie. I mean, listen to this: "Sure and begorrah, I don't know what's after being the matter with you, Michael." I mean, what on earth is this "what's after being" stuff mean? B.W. Wooster: My dear old Gussie, that is how people think Irish people talk."
- "How on earth are we supposed to hold our heads high as the 'mother of parliaments' when we allow to continue the practice of almost openly buying a seat in parliament?"