• (RP) IPA: /ɪˈθɪə.ɹi.əl/
• (America) IPA: /ɪˈθɪɹ.i.əl/, /əˈθɪɹ.i.əl/

ethereal

1. Pertaining to the hypothetical upper, purer air, or to the higher regions beyond the earth or beyond the atmosphere; celestial; otherworldly.

   ethereal space ethereal regions

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: Printed [by Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […] [a]nd by Robert Boulter […] [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], OCLC 228722708 ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: The Text Exactly Reproduced from the First Edition of 1667: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554 ↗, lines 1282–1284:

     Since to part, / Go heavenly Gueſt, Ethereal Meſſenger, / Sent from whoſe ſovran goodneſs I adore.

   • 1862: Thoreau, [https://web.archive.org/web/20040914073155/http://wikisource.org/wiki/Walking Walking].

     I trust that we shall be more imaginative, that our thoughts will be clearer, fresher, and more ethereal, as our sky,...

2. Consisting of ether; hence, exceedingly light or airy; tenuous; spiritlike; characterized by extreme delicacy, as form, manner, thought, etc.
   • 1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], epistle I, London: Printed for J[ohn] Wilford, […], OCLC 960856019 ↗, lines 237–239, page 14 ↗:

     Vaſt chain of being ! which from God began, / Ethereal Eſſence, Spirit, Subſtance, Man, / Beaſt, Bird, Fiſh, Inſect ! [...]

3. Delicate, light and airy.
4. (chemistry) To do with ether.

• (pertaining to the hypothetical upper, purer air) aereous, mystical, transcendental; See also Thesaurus:cosmic
• (consisting of ether) ethereous; See also Thesaurus:gaseous, Thesaurus:insubstantial, or Thesaurus:subtle
• (delicate, light and airy) gossamer; See also Thesaurus:fragile
• (to do with ether) ethereous, etheric, etherical

• French: éthéré
• German: ätherisch
• Italian: etereo
• Russian: эфи́рный
• Spanish: etéreo

• French: éthéré
• Italian: etereo

• French: éthéré
• German: himmlisch, ätherisch
• Italian: etereo