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Volatile vs Ethereal - What's the difference?

volatile | ethereal |

As adjectives the difference between volatile and ethereal

is that volatile is (physics) evaporating or vaporizing readily under normal conditions 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.

volatile

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • (physics) evaporating or vaporizing readily under normal conditions.
  • (of a substance, informal) explosive.
  • (of a price etc) variable or erratic.
  • (of a person) quick to become angry or violent.
  • fickle.
  • temporary or ephemeral.
  • (of a situation) potentially violent.
  • (computing, of a variable) having its associated memory immediately updated with any changes in value.
  • (computing, of memory) whose content is lost when the computer is powered down
  • (obsolete) Passing through the air on wings, or by the buoyant force of the atmosphere; flying; having the power to fly.
  • Synonyms

    * See also

    Derived terms

    * volatility * volatile memory

    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