Adjacent Words

Ethereal definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

ETHE'REAL, a. Formed of ether; containing or filled with ether; as ethereal space; ethereal regions.
1. Heavenly; celestial; as ethereal messenger.
2. Consisting of ether or spirit.
Vast chain of being, which from God began,
Natures ethereal, human, angel, man.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: characterized by lightness and insubstantiality; as impalpable or intangible as air; "figures light and aeriform come unlooked for and melt away"- Thomas Carlyle; "aerial fancies"; "an airy apparition"; "physical rather than ethereal forms" [syn: aeriform, aerial, airy, aery, ethereal]
2: of or containing or dissolved in ether; "ethereal solution"
3: of heaven or the spirit; "celestial peace"; "ethereal melodies"; "the supernal happiness of a quiet death" [syn: celestial, ethereal, supernal]
4: characterized by unusual lightness and delicacy; "this smallest and most ethereal of birds"; "gossamer shading through his playing" [syn: ethereal, gossamer]

Merriam Webster's

adjective Date: 1513 1. a. of or relating to the regions beyond the earth b. celestial, heavenly c. unworldly, spiritual 2. a. lacking material substance ; immaterial, intangible b. marked by unusual delicacy or refinement <this smallest, most ethereal, and daintiest of birds — William Beebe> c. suggesting the heavens or heaven 3. relating to, containing, or resembling a chemical ether • ethereality noun • etherealization noun • etherealize transitive verb • ethereally adverb • etherealness noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. (also etherial) 1 light, airy. 2 highly delicate, esp. in appearance. 3 heavenly, celestial. 4 Chem. of or relating to ether. Derivatives: ethereality n. ethereally adv. Etymology: L aethereus, -ius f. Gk aitherios (as ETHER)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Ethereal E*the"re*al, a. 1. Pertaining to the hypothetical upper, purer air, or to the higher regions beyond the earth or beyond the atmosphere; celestial; as, ethereal space; ethereal regions. Go, heavenly guest, ethereal messenger. --Milton. 2. Consisting of ether; hence, exceedingly light or airy; tenuous; spiritlike; characterized by extreme delicacy, as form, manner, thought, etc. Vast chain of being, which from God began, Natures ethereal, human, angel, man. --Pope. 3. (Chem.) Pertaining to, derived from, or resembling, ether; as, ethereal salts. Ethereal oil. (Chem.) See Essential oil, under Essential. Ethereal oil of wine (Chem.), a heavy, yellow, oily liquid consisting essentially of etherin, etherol, and ethyl sulphate. It is the oily residuum left after etherification. Called also heavy oil of wine (distinguished from oil of wine, or [oe]nanthic ether). Ethereal salt (Chem.), a salt of some organic radical as a base; an ester.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

1. Someone or something that is ethereal has a delicate beauty. (FORMAL) She's the prettiest, most ethereal romantic heroine in the movies. ...gorgeous, hauntingly ethereal melodies. ADJ 2. Ethereal means unrelated to practical things and the real world. (FORMAL) ...the ethereal nature of romantic fiction. ADJ

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Airy, aerial, empyreal. 2. Light, volatile, subtile, tenuous, attenuated, sublimated. 3. Subtilized, subtile, light, airy, aerial, refined, delicate, spirit-like, fairy. 4. Celestial, heavenly.

Moby Thesaurus

Elysian, Olympian, adulterated, aerial, aeriform, aerodynamic, aerostatic, aery, air-built, airish, airlike, airy, alfresco, altitudinous, ascending, asomatous, aspiring, astral, atmospheric, attenuate, attenuated, beatific, beatified, blessed, bodiless, boyish, breezy, bubbly, celestial, chimeric, chimerical, cloud-born, cloud-built, cloud-woven, colossal, cut, decarnate, decarnated, delicate, diaphanous, dilute, diluted, discarnate, disembodied, dominating, downy, dreamlike, ectoplasmic, elevated, eminent, empyreal, empyrean, etheric, exalted, exposed, extramundane, extraterrestrial, fanciful, fatuitous, fatuous, feathery, filmy, fine, fine-drawn, finespun, flimsy, fluffy, foamy, fragile, frail, from on high, frothy, fuming, fumy, gaseous, gasified, gasiform, gaslike, gassy, gauzy, ghostish, ghostlike, ghostly, ghosty, girlish, glorified, gossamer, gossamery, gracile, haughty, heavenly, high, high-pitched, high-reaching, high-set, high-up, illusory, imaginary, immaterial, impalpable, imponderable, imponderous, in glory, incorporate, incorporeal, insubstantial, intangible, lacy, leger, light, light as air, lighter than vanity, lofty, mephitic, miasmal, miasmatic, miasmic, misty, monumental, mounting, mousse, nonmaterial, nonphysical, occult, open-air, otherworldly, outtopping, overlooking, overtopping, oxyacetylene, oxygenous, ozonic, papery, paradisaic, paradisal, paradisiac, paradisic, phantasmal, phantasmic, phantom, phantomic, phantomlike, pneumatic, prominent, psychic, rare, rarefied, reeking, reeky, roomy, shadowy, slender, slenderish, slight, slight-made, slim, slimmish, slinky, small, smoking, smoky, soaring, souffle, specterlike, spectral, spiring, spiritual, spirituous, steaming, steamy, steep, sublime, subtile, subtle, superlative, supernal, supernatural, svelte, sylphlike, tenuous, thin, thin-bodied, thin-set, thin-spun, thinned, thinned-out, thinnish, threadlike, topless, toplofty, topping, towering, towery, transcendental, transmundane, tropospheric, uncompact, uncompressed, unearthly, unembodied, unextended, unfleshly, unheavy, unphysical, unreal, unsubstantial, unworldly, uplifted, upreared, vague, vaporing, vaporish, vaporlike, vaporous, vapory, volatile, wasp-waisted, watered, watered-down, watery, weak, weightless, willowy, windy, wiredrawn, wispy, wraithlike, wraithy, yeasty