earthbound

• Earthbound, earth-bound

earth +‎ -bound

earthbound (comparative more earthbound, superlative most earthbound)

1. Confined to the Earth; unable to leave Earth, either physically or spiritually.
   • 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:

     "Music, Smiley, music! Now the vibrations should be better." "The higher spirits cannot reach earth-bound folk," said Mailey.

   • 1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 231:

     [B]ut only too often séances degenerate into pure sorcery or necromancy, attracting all kinds of undeveloped and earth-bound entities.

2. (science fiction) Heading towards Earth.
3. (figuratively) Unimaginative or mundane.

• (heading towards Earth): earthward (adverb)

• “earthbound, adj.¹”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
• “earthbound, adj.²”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
• Jesse Sheidlower, editor (2001–2024), “Earthbound, adj.¹; Earthbound, adj.²”, in Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction.