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Ethereal vs Shadowy - What's the difference?

ethereal | shadowy | Related terms |

Ethereal is a related term of shadowy.


As adjectives the difference between ethereal and shadowy

is that 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 while shadowy is in shadow; darkened by shadows.

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

    shadowy

    English

    Adjective

    (er)
  • In shadow; darkened by shadows.
    • He sat in a shadowy corner.
  • (of character) Dark, obscure.
    • He was a shadowy man who rarely spoke.
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2011 , date=December 19 , author=Kerry Brown , title=Kim Jong-il obituary , work=The Guardian citation , page= , passage=By 1980, South Korea had overtaken its northern neighbour, and was well on its way to being one of the Asian tigers – high-performing economies, with democratic movements ultimately winning power in the 1990s. The withdrawal of most Soviet aid in 1991, with the fall of the Soviet empire, pushed North Korea further down. Kim Il-sung had held a genuine place on North Korean people's affections. His son was regarded as a shadowy playboy, with rumours circulating over the years that he imported Russian and Chinese prostitutes, and lived a life of profligacy and excess.}}