aethereal

Adjective

ethereal (comparative more ethereal, superlative most ethereal)

1. 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.
   • Near-synonyms: aereous, celestial

   Synonyms:

   aetheric, etheric, aereous, celestial

   Antonyms:

   earthly

2. Pertaining to the immaterial realm, as symbolically represented by, or (in earlier epochs) conflated with, such atmospheric and extra-atmospheric concepts.
   • Near-synonyms: celestial, incorporeal, insubstantial, intangible, spiritual, uncorporeal, mystical, otherworldly, transcendental; see also Thesaurus:cosmic

   Synonyms:

   celestial, incorporeal, insubstantial, intangible, spiritual, uncorporeal, mystical, otherworldly, transcendental, cosmic

   Antonyms:

   corporeal, corporal, earthly

3. 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, / Ethereal Eſſence, Spirit, Subſtance, Man, / Beaſt, Bird, Fiſh, Inſect ! [...]1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], epistle I, London: […] J[ohn] Wilford, […], →OCLC, page 14, lines 237–239

   Synonyms:

   ethereous, delicate, light, aeriform, aereous, aerial, airy, gaseous, pneumatic, vaporlike