ethereal
/ɪˈθɪɚ.i.əl/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.20 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
4
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Pertaining to the presupposition of an invisible air-like element permeating all of space, or to the higher regions beyond the earth or beyond the atmosphere.
adj
Pertaining to the immaterial realm, as symbolically represented by, or (in earlier epochs) conflated with, such atmospheric and extra-atmospheric concepts.
adj
Consisting of ether; hence, exceedingly light or airy; tenuous; spiritlike; characterized by extreme delicacy, as form, manner, thought, etc.
Example Sentences
- "Near-synonyms: aereous, celestial"
- "ethereal space"
- "ethereal regions"
- "Since to part, / Go heavenly Gueſt, Ethereal Meſſenger, / Sent from whoſe ſovran goodneſs I adore."
- "The fanciful fables of fairy land are but allegories of the young poet's mind when the sweet spell is upon him. Some slight thing calls up the visionary world, and all the outward and actual is for the time forgotten. It is a fever ethereal and lovely; but, like all other fevers, leaving behind weakness and exhaustion."
- "I trust that we shall be more imaginative, that our thoughts will be clearer, fresher, and more ethereal, as our sky,[…]"
Etymology
From Latin aetherius (“of or pertaining to the ether, the sky, Heaven or the air or upper air”), from Ancient Greek αἰθέριος (aithérios, “of or pertaining to the upper air”). By surface analysis, ether + -ial.
Origin
- Source language: Latin
Word Breakdown
- Root: aetherius, αἰθέριος
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ɪˈθɪɚ.i.əl/
- British English: /ɪˈθɪə.ɹɪ.əl/
Usage
Inflected Forms
more ethereal (comparative)
most ethereal (superlative)
aethereal (alternative)
aetherial (alternative)
æthereal (alternative, archaic)
ætherial (alternative, archaic)
æthereall (alternative, obsolete)
ætheriall (alternative, obsolete)