Ethereal
adjective /ɪˈθɪəriəl/ — Too perfect to seem quite real.
Definition
Extremely delicate and light, seemingly too beautiful or refined to belong to the ordinary world.
Beyond the definition
Used to describe beauty that feels otherworldly — a face, a landscape, a piece of music that makes you think it couldn't possibly be from here.
Origin & history
From Greek aither — the clear upper sky, the material believed to fill the upper regions of space.
Example sentences
Illustrative sentences for learning, not verified community posts or sourced quotations.
The fog rolling over the hills gave the landscape an ethereal quality.
She moved with an ethereal grace that made everyone stop talking.
The choir's ethereal harmonies filled the old cathedral.
Synonyms
Antonyms
earthly, mundane, coarse
Related words
- ephemeral
- luminous
- diaphanous
- celestial
Ethereal vs celestial
Ethereal describes something delicate, airy, or otherworldly in quality. Celestial specifically refers to the heavens or sky, focusing on space or divinity rather than just a light, gauzy feeling.
Word in the Wild
See how this word appears in life, language and stories.
Illustrative sentences and imagined stories for learning — not verified sightings, interviews, or sourced quotations.
Illustrative example
Drifting jellyfish in deep water
Several jellyfish float together in deep water, their translucent bodies creating a delicate and otherworldly presence against the dark void.
The jellyfish represent the delicate and light qualities associated with the term; they appear to exist outside the ordinary world, embodying a refined beauty that transcends more grounded, heavy forms.
Image credit: W.carter · CC BY-SA 4.0 (license)
Resized and converted to WebP; displayed with a fitted crop.