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Idyllic vs Ethereal - What's the difference?

idyllic | ethereal |

As adjectives the difference between idyllic and ethereal

is that idyllic is of or pertaining to idylls 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.

As a noun idyllic

is an idyllic state or situation (a substantive use of the adjective).

idyllic

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Of or pertaining to idylls.
  • Extremely happy, peaceful, or picturesque.
  • Quotations

    * 1896 — , ch 17 *: My fellow-creatures, from whom I was thus separated, began to assume idyllic virtue and beauty in my memory. * 1922 — , ch II *: The rest of the road was as idyllic as the start.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An idyllic state or situation. (A substantive use of the adjective)
  • * 1922 — , ch V
  • He could retire to the idyllic with the knowledge that he had not been wanting when Romance called.

    References

    * *

    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