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Atmospheric vs Ethereal - What's the difference?

atmospheric | ethereal |

As adjectives the difference between atmospheric and ethereal

is that atmospheric is of, relating to, produced by, or coming from the atmosphere while ethereal is pertaining to the hypothetical upper, purer air, or to the higher regions beyond the earth or beyond the atmosphere; celestial; otherworldly; as, ethereal space; ethereal regions.

atmospheric

English

Alternative forms

*

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Of, relating to, produced by, or coming from the atmosphere.
  • (painting) Translucent or hazy.
  • Evoking a particular emotional or aesthetic quality.
    • a dark atmospheric thriller

    Synonyms

    * atmospherical

    See also

    * ambient

    ethereal

    English

    Alternative forms

    * aethereal * aetherial * * (obsolete) * * (obsolete)

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Pertaining to the hypothetical upper, purer air, or to the higher regions beyond the earth or beyond the atmosphere; celestial; otherworldly; as, ethereal space; ethereal regions.
  • * 1667 : , Paradise Lost , book VII
    • Go, heavenly guest, ethereal messenger.
  • * 1862 : , Walking .
    • I trust that we shall be more imaginative, that our thoughts will be clearer, fresher, and more ethereal , as our sky,...
  • Consisting of ether; hence, exceedingly light or airy; tenuous; spiritlike; characterized by extreme delicacy, as form, manner, thought, etc.
  • * 1733 : , An Essay on Man
    • Vast chain of being, which from God began, Natures ethereal , human, angel, man.
  • Delicate, light and airy.

    • Derived terms

    * ethereality * ethereally * etherealness * etherealization * etherealisation * etherealizing

    References

    * American English forms