Meaning & use
ethereal
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Meanings
adjectivecomparableliterary
So light, delicate and graceful that it seems not to belong to the ordinary world.
Grammar: Goes before a noun or after a linking verb: an ethereal voice, her voice was ethereal.
Patterns
- ethereal beauty
- ethereal quality
The singer's ethereal voice floated over the quiet hall.
Morning mist gave the lake an ethereal look.
She had an ethereal beauty that painters loved.
adjectivebefore a nounliteraryreligion
Belonging to heaven or the spirit rather than the physical world.
Grammar: Goes before a noun and appears in poetic or religious writing.
Patterns
- ethereal realm
Poets wrote about the ethereal realm beyond death.
The painting shows ethereal beings drifting through clouds.
He claimed to have glimpsed an ethereal world in his dream.
Word forms
| comparative | more ethereal |
|---|---|
| superlative | most ethereal |
Common combinations
- ethereal beauty
- The snow-covered forest had an ethereal beauty.
- ethereal voice
- Her ethereal voice drew the audience into silence.
- ethereal glow
- The lanterns cast an ethereal glow over the garden.
- ethereal music
- The ethereal music seemed to come from nowhere.
- ethereal quality
- The photograph has an ethereal quality.
Synonyms and how they differ
- delicate
- Delicate means fine and easily damaged, but does not suggest something otherworldly.
- heavenly
- Heavenly is warmer and often just means wonderful, while ethereal stresses lightness and unreality.
- airy
- Airy means light and open, and may be used for rooms, whereas ethereal sounds more poetic.
- otherworldly
- Otherworldly emphasizes belonging to another world, sometimes in an eerie way.
Opposites
Word family
- ether noun
- the clear upper air, or a substance once believed to fill space
- ethereally adverb
- in a light, delicate way
- etherealize verb
- to make delicate or spiritual; rare
- etherealness noun
- the quality of being ethereal
Commonly confused: ethereal or ethical? ethereal or aerial?
ethereal vs ethical
Ethical means concerned with right and wrong and is unrelated to being delicate.
ethereal vs aerial
Aerial means in or from the air, such as an aerial photo, while ethereal means delicate and otherworldly.
Practice
Which phrase best matches 'an ethereal voice'?
Choose one answer.
Ethereal describes something so light and delicate it seems otherworldly. Loud, angry or nervous do not carry that meaning.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “ethereal”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.