Etymology From Middle English temporal, temporel (“transitory, worldly, material, of secular society”), from Old French temporel or Latin temporālis (“of time (in grammar), temporary, relating to time as opposed to eternity”), from tempus (“time, period, opportunity”) + -ālis.
1
Relational, Usually Of or relating to the material world, as opposed to sacred or clerical.
temporal power, temporal courts
The Right Honourable the Lords Spiritual and Temporal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled
2 more examples
The [papal] train was in use until 1871, when the Pope [Pius IX] lost his temporal power.1945 September and October, C. Hamilton Ellis, “Royal Trains—V”, in Railway Magazine, page 252:
Not long before, he had ruefully acknowledged in a letter to his pious mother that most of his appointments to the bench of bishops had been motivated by distinctly temporal impulses.2011, Thomas Penn, Winter King: The Dawn of Tudor England, Penguin Books, page 166:
› Relating to time:
2
Relational, Usually Of limited time, transient, passing, not perpetual, as opposed to eternal.
The things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Corinthians 4:18:
› Relating to time: › Of limited time, transient, passing, not…
Etymology From Middle English temporal, temporel (“transitory, worldly, material, of secular society”), from Old French temporel or Latin temporālis (“of time (in grammar), temporary, relating to time as opposed to eternity”), from tempus (“time, period, opportunity”) + -ālis.
1
In plural Anything temporal or secular; a temporality.
for God's people love always to be dealing as well in temporals as spirituals1684, John Dryden, The History of the League, translation of Histoire de la Ligue by Louis Maimbourg:
He assigns supremacy to the pope in spirituals, and to the emperor in temporals.1876, James Russell Lowell, “Dante”, in Among My Books. Second Series., Boston, Mass.: James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, late Ticknor & Fields, and Fields, Osgood, & Co., →OCLC, page 30:
temporal
adj
Etymology From Middle English, from Middle French timporal, temporal, from Late Latin temporālis, from tempora (“the temples of the head”) + -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix). Doublet of temporalis.
1
Anatomy, Medicine, SciencesRelational Of or situated in the temples of the head or the sides of the skull behind the orbits.
Etymology From Middle English, from Middle French timporal, temporal, from Late Latin temporālis, from tempora (“the temples of the head”) + -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix). Doublet of temporalis.
1
Anatomy, Medicine, SciencesAbbreviation, Ellipsis Ellipsis of temporal bone.
2
Biology, Natural sciences, Zoology, Zootomy Any of a reptile's scales on the side of the head between the parietal and supralabial scales, and behind the postocular scales.