ethereal

intangible; delicate; heavenly; spiritual: It was an ethereal visitation by someone from another world.

Not to be confused with:

ephemeral – lasting a short time; transitory; short-lived: It was an ephemeral but delightful visit.

e·the·re·al

(ĭ-thîr′ē-əl)

adj.

1. Extremely light or delicate: "An ant lion ... is lovely, long-bodied like a damselfly, with a pair of ethereal wings" (Jennifer Ackerman).

a. Of the celestial spheres; heavenly.

b. Spiritual or otherworldly.

3. Chemistry Of or relating to ether.

[From Latin aetherius, from Greek aitherios, from aithēr, upper air.]

e·the′re·al′i·ty (-ăl′ĭ-tē), e·the′re·al·ness n.

e·the′re·al·ly adv.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ethereal

(ɪˈθɪərɪəl)

adj

1. extremely delicate or refined; exquisite

2. almost as light as air; impalpable; airy

3. celestial or spiritual

4. (Chemistry) of, containing, or dissolved in an ether, esp diethyl ether: an ethereal solution.

5. of or relating to the ether

[C16: from Latin aethereus, from Greek aitherios, from aithēr ether]

eˌthereˈality, eˈtherealness n

eˈthereally adv

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

e•the•re•al

(ɪˈθɪər i əl)

adj.

1. light, airy, or tenuous.

2. extremely delicate or refined: ethereal beauty.

3. heavenly or celestial.

4. of or pertaining to the upper regions of space.

5. pertaining to, containing, or resembling ethyl ether.

[1505–15; < Latin aethere(us) < Greek aithérios]

e•the`re•al′i•ty, e•the′re•al•ness, n.

e•the′re•al•ly, adv.

ethereal

- First meant "resembling the ether or lightest and most subtle of elements," and now means that something is impalpable or unearthly.

ethereal

adjective

1. delicate, light, fine, subtle, refined, exquisite, tenuous, dainty, rarefied gorgeous, hauntingly ethereal melodies

2. insubstantial, light, fairy, aerial, airy, intangible, rarefied, impalpable the ethereal world of romantic fiction

3. spiritual, heavenly, unearthly, sublime, celestial, unworldly, empyreal the ethereal realm of the divine

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

ethereal

adjective

So light and insubstantial as to resemble air or a thin film:

aerial, aery, airy, diaphanous, filmy, gauzy, gossamer, gossamery, sheer, transparent, vaporous, vapory.

Translations

éthéré

etereo

ethereal

[ɪˈθɪərɪəl] ADJ (fig) → etéreo

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

ethereal

[ɪˈθɪərɪəl] adj → éthéré(e)

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

ethereal

adj

(= light, delicate, spiritual) → ätherisch

(= of the upper air) regions → himmlisch

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

ethereal

[ɪˈθɪərɪəl] adj → etereo/a

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

It kept him down on a level with the lowest; him, the man of ethereal attributes, whose voice the angels might else have listened to and answered!

View in context

"How strange it is," whispered Owen Warland to himself, leaning his head upon his hand, "that all my musings, my purposes, my passion for the beautiful, my consciousness of power to create it,--a finer, more ethereal power, of which this earthly giant can have no conception,--all, all, look so vain and idle whenever my path is crossed by Robert Danforth!

View in context

If, then, to meanest mariners, and renegades and castaways, I shall hereafter ascribe high qualities, though dark; weave round them tragic graces; if even the most mournful, perchance the most abased, among them all, shall at times lift himself to the exalted mounts; if I shall touch that workman's arm with some ethereal light; if I shall spread a rainbow over his disastrous set of sun; then against all mortal critics bear me out in it, thou just spirit of equality, which hast spread one royal mantle of humanity over all my kind!

View in context

I revel in flowers without let, An atom at random in space; My soul dwells in regions ethereal, And the world is my dreaming-place.

View in context

It may be that among them a more fervid Keats, a more ethereal Shelley, has already published numbers the world will willingly remember.

View in context

"I believe, in fact I know, that there are some truly ethereal creatures.

View in context

It lacked the intensely blue atmosphere of the rival vale, and its heavy soils and scents; the new air was clear, bracing, ethereal. The river itself, which nourished the grass and cows of these renowned dairies, flowed not like the streams in Blackmoor.

View in context

She was a delicate, ethereal creature, swaying and willowy, light and graceful of movement.

View in context

It was as if some transcendent musician should draw a soul-thrilling sweetness out of a cracked instrument, which makes its physical imperfection heard in the midst of ethereal harmony,--so deep was the sensibility that found an organ in Hepzibah's voice!

View in context

Him the Almighty Power Hurld headlong flaming from th' Ethereal Skie With hideous ruine and combustion down To bottomless perdition, there to dwell In Adamantine Chains and penal Fire, Who durst defie th' Omnipotent to Arms.

View in context

All these and a variety of other great exploits are, were and will be, the work of fame that mortals desire as a reward and a portion of the immortality their famous deeds deserve; though we Catholic Christians and knights-errant look more to that future glory that is everlasting in the ethereal regions of heaven than to the vanity of the fame that is to be acquired in this present transitory life; a fame that, however long it may last, must after all end with the world itself, which has its own appointed end.

View in context

This bit of forest might have appeared to an ethereal wanderer as a scene of the result of some frightful debauch.

View in context

Adj.	1.	ethereal - 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" aery, aerial, aeriform, airy insubstantial, unsubstantial, unreal - lacking material form or substance; unreal; "as insubstantial as a dream"; "an insubstantial mirage on the horizon"
	2.	ethereal - of or containing or dissolved in ether; "ethereal solution" chemical science, chemistry - the science of matter; the branch of the natural sciences dealing with the composition of substances and their properties and reactions
	3.	ethereal - of heaven or the spirit; "celestial peace"; "ethereal melodies"; "the supernal happiness of a quiet death" supernal, celestial heavenly - of or belonging to heaven or god
	4.	ethereal - characterized by unusual lightness and delicacy; "this smallest and most ethereal of birds"; "gossamer shading through his playing" gossamer delicate - exquisitely fine and subtle and pleasing; susceptible to injury; "a delicate violin passage"; "delicate china"; "a delicate flavor"; "the delicate wing of a butterfly"