English Vocabulary Builder Practice Test

The idea being tested is the distinction between worldly, time-bound aspects of life and things that are spiritual or eternal. A word that captures the sense of the everyday, secular world is temporal. It comes from a root meaning time, and in common use it describes things belonging to the world we live in and to time as opposed to the timeless or sacred realm. So you’ll hear about temporal concerns, temporal power, or temporal matters—things of the earthly, day-to-day world.

Extant means existing or living; immutable means unchanging; and stolid means emotionally or mentally dull. None of these convey the sense of the worldly, time-bound realm like temporal does.