Word.ws English Dictionary

ether

Syllables: E·ther/ˈiː.θə//ˈi.θɚ/

ether noun: the medium breathed by human beings; the air. Also the alternative form of edder.

ether: the medium breathed by human beings; the air
Image: Łukasz Karolewski, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

ether (countable and uncountable, plural ethers)

  1. (broadly, literary, poetic) The medium breathed by human beings; the air.
    • On Wings the Birds through Æther glide, / And Fiſhes cut with Fins the Tide.1746 February 28, Criticus [pseudonym], “Dialogue on Women”, in [Mark Akenside], editor, The Museum: Or, The Literary and Historical Register, volume II, number XXV, London: Printed for R[obert]...
    • Of the mysterious world, that come to me
      From the elements of
      Fire and Earth and Water,
      And the all-nourishing Ether!1872, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Christus: A Mystery
  2. (broadly, literary, poetic) The sky, the heavens; the void, nothingness.
    • Take a snapshot of the conflicts around the world: Sunnis vs. Shiites, Israelis vs. Palestinians, Serbs vs. Kosovars, Indians vs. Pakistanis. They seem to be driven by religious hatred. It’s enough to make you wonder if the animosity would melt away if all religions were suddenly, somehow, to...2008 July 21, Steve Paulson, “Religion is Poetry”, in Salon, archived from the original on 30 Aug 2017
    • In barely the blink of an eye, the perfectly healthy Judy entered a permanent vegetative state. […] What haunted me was the idea that one moment you’re gazing at your 2-year-old in her playroom and the next, you, the mother, have been whisked off into the ether forever.2009 December, Sandra Tsing Loh, “On Being a Bad Mother: True Confessions”, in The Atlantic, →ISSN, archived from the original on 25 Jul 2018
  3. (historical, uncountable) Often as aether and more fully as luminiferous aether: The hypothetical substance permeating space, functioning as a medium for electromagnetic waves to propagate through, and which does not exert resistance to the movement of matter; its existence is incompatible with Einstein's theory of relativity; famously found to be undetectable by the 1887 Michelson–Morley experiment.
    • I ſuppose this æther pervades all groſs bodies, but yet ſo as to ſtand rarer in their pores than in free ſpaces, and ſo much the rarer, as their pores are leſs. And this I ſuppose (with others) to be the cauſe, why light incident on thoſe bodies is refracted towards the perpendicular; […] I ſuppose...1679 February 28, Thomas Birch, quoting Isaac Newton, “The Life of the Honourable Robert Boyle. [Letter from Isaac Newton to Robert Boyle.]”, in Robert Boyle, The Works of the Honourable Robert...
    • Having ſhewn how the Æther cauſes a great part of the Phænomena of Nature, it may be aſked, whence this general material Cauſe has its great Activity and Power? […] This Cauſe muſt be either Matter or Spirit, there being nothing in the Univerſe, which we know if, beſides theſe two. But this Cauſe...1747, Bryan Robinson, A Dissertation on the Æther of Sir Isaac Newton, London: Printed for Charles Hitch […], →OCLC; quoted in “Literary Memoirs. A Dissertation on the Æther of Sir Isaac Newton, by...
  4. (colloquial, uncountable) The atmosphere or space as a medium for broadcasting radio and television signals; also, a notional space through which Internet and other digital communications take place; cyberspace.
    • H. P. Lovecraft, At the Mountains of Madness
      He held some friendly chat with Pabodie over the ether, and repeated his praise of the really marvelous drills that had helped him make his discovery.
    • Now we are liberal with our innermost secrets, spraying them into the public ether with a generosity our forebears could not have imagined. Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope, or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to...2013 June 14, Jonathan Freedland, “Obama’s Once Hip Brand is Now Tainted [online version: Obama is Like Apple, Google and Facebook: A Once Hip Brand Tainted by Prism]”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume...
  5. (colloquial, uncountable) A particular quality created by or surrounding an object, person, or place; an atmosphere, an aura.
    • The luminous æther of his life was not obſcured by any ſhade dark enough to be denominated a defect.1793, “[Characters.] An Account of the Late Earl of Mansfield.”, in The Annual Register, or A View of the History, Politics, and Literature, volume XXXV, London: Printed, by assignment from the...
  6. (uncountable) Diethyl ether (C₄H₁₀O), an organic compound with a sweet odour used in the past as an anaesthetic.
    • But the moſt valuable Qualities of the ÆTHER are it's medicinal ones; it having been found by repeated Experience to be an excellent Remedy in moſt nervous Diſeaſes; particularly in Fits of all ſorts, whether Epileptic, Convulſive, Hyſteric, Hypochondriac, or Paralytic: […]1759, M[atthew] Turner, An Account of the Extraordinary Medicinal Fluid, Called Æther, [Liverpool]: Printed by John Sadler, →OCLC, page 5
    • To A Gould and William T. G. Morton, of Boston, Mass., for improvement in apparatus for inhaling ether; &c., (said Gould having assigned to said Morton.) Patented Nov. 13, 1847.1847, editorial staff, “List of Patents”, in Scientific American, series 1, Volume 3, Issue 9, page 68
  7. (countable) Any of a class of organic compounds containing an oxygen atom bonded to two hydrocarbon groups.
    • M. Malaguti finds that dry chlorine, while acting in the dark upon oxacid æthers, always attacks, and in a uniform manner, the sulphuric æther which is the base of them. […] The action of potash on the compound chloridized æthers is also constant and uniform: the results are always chloride of...1838 March, “Action of Chlorine on Æthers”, in David Brewster, Richard Taylor, Richard Phillips, editors, The London and Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science, volume XII (3rd...
    • When chlorine gas is passed in excess through salicylic ether (salicylae of ethyl) heated over a water-bath, a solid substance is formed which is soluble in hot alcohol, and crystallizes, on cooling, in beautiful colourless tables. This compound is bichloruretted salicylic ether, formed from...1851, A[uguste André Thomas] Cahours, “[Notices of Papers Contained in the Foreign Journals.] On Anisol and Phenetol”, in Henry Watts, editor, The Quarterly Journal of the Chemical Society of London...
  8. (uncountable) Starting fluid.

Verb

ether (third-person singular simple present ethers, present participle ethering, simple past and past participle ethered)

  1. (slang, transitive) To viciously humiliate or insult.
    • The battle rapper ethered his opponent and caused him to slink away in shame.
    • HS Coach Gets Ethered By Girlfriend On FB, Resigns Amid Investigation [article title] […] On Monday, a woman living in Bowling Green, Ky., used her Facebook page to unleash one of the coldest, boyfriend-crushingest Dear John letters you'll ever read.2014 February 26, Tom Ley, “HS Coach Gets Ethered by Girlfriend on FB, Resigns Amid Investigation”, in Deadspin, archived from the original on 22 Oct 2018

Proper noun (1) capitalized: Ether

Ether

  1. (Roman) The god-personification of the bright, glowing upper air of heaven. He is the Roman counterpart of Aether.

Noun (2) capitalized: Ether

Ether (plural Ether)

  1. A unit of the Ethereum digital currency, ETH.
    • After more than 30 bids, the auction ended at 12:32 p.m. Eastern time, with a winning bid of 350 Ether, or about $560,000.2021 March 26, Kevin Roose, “Why Did Someone Pay $560,000 for a Picture of My Column?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Ether

Ether

  1. (Mormonism) The ancient American prophet of Mormon theology who wrote the Book of Ether in the Book of Mormon.

Also used as

ether is also the alternative form of edder.

ether is also the alternative letter-case form of Ether.

ether meaning in Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada

ether in Hindi

substance supposed to fill the upper regions of the atmosphere
ईथर īthar, आकाश ākāś
substance once thought to fill all unoccupied space
ईथर īthar
(organic chemistry) diethyl ether
ईथर īthar

ether in Telugu

ఈథర్కు, ఈథర్

ether in Malayalam

ഈഥർ

ether in Kannada

ಈಥರ್ಗೆ, ಈಥರ್
More languagesFewer languages
ether in Punjabi
ਈਥਰ
ether in Gujarati
ઈથરને
ether in Sanskrit
आकाश ākāśa
ether in Nepali
ईथरलाई
ether in Arabic
أَثِير ʔaṯīr
ether in Malay
eter
ether in Persian
اثیر asir, اتر eter
ether in Vietnamese
ê-te

Examples of ether in a sentence

  • It’s enough to make you wonder if the animosity would melt away if all religions were suddenly, somehow, to vanish into the ether.2008 July 21, Steve Paulson, “Religion is Poetry”, in Salon, archived from the original on 30 Aug 2017:
  • There’s a very real chance that, rather than crumbling into the dust and floating off into the ether, Thanos’s victims [in the film Avengers: Infinity War] were actually sucked up into the Soul Stone.2018 May 7, Meg Downey, “Marvel’s Comic Soul Stone could Explain the Jump from Infinity War’s Ending to Avengers 4: A Brief History of...
  • The earth browses upon a circular path in the fields of space, and as it moves the ether is continually pouring through it and providing its vitality."1929, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, When the World Screamed:
  • Now we are liberal with our innermost secrets, spraying them into the public ether with a generosity our forebears could not have imagined.2013 June 14, Jonathan Freedland, “Obama’s Once Hip Brand is Now Tainted [online version: Obama is Like Apple, Google and Facebook: A Once...

All 27 example sentences with ether

Synonyms of ether

9 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of ether

Forms of ether

Noun
pluralethers
pluralether
pluralEther
alternative formether
alternative UK (obsolete, dated)æther
alternative UK (obsolete, dated)aether
alternative form (archaic)aethyr
alternative form (archaic)ethyr
Verb
third-person singular presentethers
present participleethering
past participleethered
pastethered

Plural of ether: ethers

Origin of ether

From Middle English ēther (“the caelum aetherum of ancient cosmology in which the planets orbit; a shining, fluid substance described as a form of air or fire; air”), borrowed from Anglo-Norman ether and Middle French ether, ethere, aether, from Old French aether (“highest and purest part of the atmosphere; medium supposedly filling the upper regions of space”) (modern French éther), or directly from its etymon Latin aethēr (“highest and purest part of the atmosphere; air; heavens, sky; light of day; ethereal matter surrounding a deity”) (note also New Latin aethēr (“chemical compound analogous to diethyl ether”)), from Ancient Greek αἰθήρ (aithḗr, “purer upper air of the atmosphere; heaven, sky; theoretical medium supposed to fill unoccupied space and transmit heat and light”), from αἴθω (aíthō, “to burn, ignite; to blaze, shine”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eydʰ- (“to burn; fire”). The English word is cognate with Italian ether, ethera (both obsolete), etere, Middle Dutch ether (modern Dutch aether (obsolete), ether), German Äther, Ether, Portuguese éter, Spanish éter.

From “Ether” (2001), a song by the American hip hop recording artist Nas (born 1973). According to Nas, the song, a diss track aimed at fellow artist Jay-Z (born 1969), was thus named because he was once told that ghosts and spirits do not like the fumes from ether (noun, sense 5), and he viewed the song as affecting Jay-Z in a similar way. The song contains the lines “I fuck with your soul like ether” and “That ether, that shit that make your soul burn slow”.

From Old French ether, from Latin aether (“the upper pure, bright air”), from Ancient Greek αἰθήρ (aithḗr, “upper air”), from αἴθω (aíthō, “to burn, shine”). Doublet of Aether.

Words formed from ether

Phrases with ether

Words that rhyme with ether

Questions about ether

What does ether mean?
Ether means the medium breathed by human beings; the air.
What is ether in Hindi?
Ether in Hindi is ईथर (īthar), आकाश (ākāś). See Ether meaning in Hindi.
How do you use ether in a sentence?
It’s enough to make you wonder if the animosity would melt away if all religions were suddenly, somehow, to vanish into the ether.
What part of speech is ether?
Ether can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce ether?
Ether is pronounced /ˈiː.θə/ (UK).
What is the plural of ether?
The plural of ether is ethers.

Words near ether in the dictionary

  1. etheostomatine
  2. etheostomine
  3. etheostomoid
  4. etheostomoids
  5. ethephon
  6. ether
  7. ether engine
  8. ether engines
  9. etherate
  10. etherates
  11. ethereal

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ether (page history and authors); Ether (page history and authors); ether (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ether (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ether (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ether (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ether (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ether (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-ether.ogg, en-au-ether.ogg, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Tesco250-ether.wav.

Cite this entry: “ether.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ether. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.