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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

e·the·re·al

Audio Help [i-theer-ee-uh

l] Pronunciation Key

–adjective

1.	light, airy, or tenuous: an ethereal world created through the poetic imagination.

2.	extremely delicate or refined: ethereal beauty.

3.	heavenly or celestial: gone to his ethereal home.

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

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

Also, aethereal (for defs. 1–4).

[Origin: 1505–15; < L aethere(us) (< Gk aithérios), equiv. to aether- ether + -eus adj. suffix + -al¹

]

—Related forms

e·the·re·al·i·ty, e·the·re·al·ness, noun

e·the·re·al·ly, adverb

e·the·re·ous, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
ethereal

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

e·the·re·al Audio Help (ĭ-thîr'ē-əl) Pronunciation Key
adj.

Characterized by lightness and insubstantiality; intangible.
Highly refined; delicate. See Synonyms at airy.
1. Of the celestial spheres; heavenly.
2. Not of this world; spiritual.
Chemistry Of or relating to ether.

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

e·the're·al'i·ty (-āl'ĭ-tē), e·the're·al·ness n., e·the're·al·ly adv.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
ethereal

1513, from ether (q.v.); extended sense of "light, airy" is from 1598.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

ethereal
adjective
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]
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]
4.	characterized by unusual lightness and delicacy; "this smallest and most ethereal of birds"; "gossamer shading through his playing"

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

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.

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