What does "ether" mean?
The substance formerly supposed to fill the upper regions of the atmosphere above the clouds, in particular as a medium breathed by deities.; The medium breathed by human beings; the air.
Ether
/ˈiː.θə/ name, noun, verb, slang
name, noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: The substance formerly supposed to fill the upper regions of the atmosphere above the clouds, in particular as a medium breathed by deities.; The medium breathed by human beings; the air.
- Grammar: ether is listed as name, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: aether, acme, aerial heights, air.
- Useful contrasts: alcohol, earth, empty space.
- Usage evidence: The plane seemed to just disappear into the ether.
How to use "ether"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "ether" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
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Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "ether" in a final draft.
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Before you rely on this definition
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Compare nearby meanings
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Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
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Final meaning check
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Definitions
Noun
- 1 The substance formerly supposed to fill the upper regions of the atmosphere above the clouds, in particular as a medium breathed by deities.; The medium breathed by human beings; the air. broadly, countable, literary, poetic, uncountable
"On Wings the Birds through Æther glide, / And Fiſhes cut with Fins the Tide."
- 2 Alternative letter-case form of Ether. alt-of
"Gas is not ether–it's a separate virtual currency with its own exchange rate against ether."
- 3 A unit of the Ethereum digital currency, ETH.
"After more than 30 bids, the auction ended at 12:32 p.m. Eastern time, with a winning bid of 350 Ether, or about $560,000."
- 4 a colorless volatile highly flammable liquid formerly used as an inhalation anesthetic wordnet
- 5 The substance formerly supposed to fill the upper regions of the atmosphere above the clouds, in particular as a medium breathed by deities.; The sky, the heavens; the void, nothingness. broadly, countable, literary, poetic, uncountable
"Take a snapshot of the conflicts around the world: Sunnis vs. Shiites, Israelis vs. Palestinians, Serbs vs. Kosovars, Indians vs. Pakistanis. They seem to be driven by religious hatred. It’s enough to make you wonder if the animosity would melt away if all religions were suddenly, somehow, to vanish into the ether. But James Carse doesn’t see them as religious conflicts at all. To him, they are battles over rival belief systems, which may or may not have religious overtones."
Show 9 more definitions
- 6 a medium that was once supposed to fill all space and to support the propagation of electromagnetic waves wordnet
- 7 Often as aether and more fully as luminiferous aether: a substance once thought to fill all unoccupied space that allowed electromagnetic waves to pass through it and interact with matter, without exerting any resistance to matter or energy; its existence was disproved by the 1887 Michelson–Morley experiment and the theory of relativity propounded by Albert Einstein (1879–1955). historical, uncountable
"I ſuppose this æther pervades all groſs bodies, but yet ſo as to ſtand rarer in their pores than in free ſpaces, and ſo much the rarer, as their pores are leſs. And this I ſuppose (with others) to be the cauſe, why light incident on thoſe bodies is refracted towards the perpendicular; […] I ſuppose the rarer æther within bodies, and then denſer without them, not to be terminated in a mathematical ſuperficies, but to grow gradually into one another; […]"
- 8 any of a class of organic compounds that have two hydrocarbon groups linked by an oxygen atom wordnet
- 9 The atmosphere or space as a medium for broadcasting radio and television signals; also, a notional space through which Internet and other digital communications take place; cyberspace. colloquial, uncountable
"H. P. Lovecraft, At the Mountains of Madness He held some friendly chat with Pabodie over the ether, and repeated his praise of the really marvelous drills that had helped him make his discovery."
- 10 the fifth and highest element after air and earth and fire and water; was believed to be the substance composing all heavenly bodies wordnet
- 11 A particular quality created by or surrounding an object, person, or place; an atmosphere, an aura. colloquial, uncountable
"The luminous æther of his life was not obſcured by any ſhade dark enough to be denominated a defect."
- 12 Diethyl ether (C₄H₁₀O), an organic compound with a sweet odour used in the past as an anaesthetic. uncountable
"But the moſt valuable Qualities of the ÆTHER are it's medicinal ones; it having been found by repeated Experience to be an excellent Remedy in moſt nervous Diſeaſes; particularly in Fits of all ſorts, whether Epileptic, Convulſive, Hyſteric, Hypochondriac, or Paralytic: […]"
- 13 Any of a class of organic compounds containing an oxygen atom bonded to two hydrocarbon groups. countable
"M. Malaguti finds that dry chlorine, while acting in the dark upon oxacid æthers, always attacks, and in a uniform manner, the sulphuric æther which is the base of them. […] The action of potash on the compound chloridized æthers is also constant and uniform: the results are always chloride of potassium, acetate of potash, and an organic salt with a base of potash, the acid of which is that which existed in the compound chloridized æther."
- 14 Starting fluid. uncountable
Verb
- 1 To viciously humiliate or insult. slang, transitive
"The battle rapper ethered his opponent and caused him to slink away in shame."
- 2 Alternative form of edder. UK, alt-of, alternative, dialectal
"Ether and Ethers (rhyme to whether)—the operation of running a line of hazle or other flexible wands intertwiningly along the top of a hedge, to keep it more firmly within the hedge-stakes. "Mind you ether it right strong." To "bond" a hedge has the same meaning."
Proper Noun
- 1 The god-personification of the bright, glowing upper air of heaven. He is the Roman counterpart of Aether. Roman
- 2 The ancient American prophet of Mormon theology who wrote the Book of Ether in the Book of Mormon. Mormonism
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
"The plane seemed to just disappear into the ether."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "ether"?
Common synonyms include: aether, acme, aerial heights, air, airy nothing, alcohol.
How do you use "ether" in a sentence?
The plane seemed to just disappear into the ether.
How do you pronounce "ether"?
Pronounced /ˈiː.θə/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English ēther (“the caelum aetherum of ancient cosmology in which the planets orbit; a shining, fluid substance described as a form of air or fire; air”), borrowed from Anglo-Norman ether and Middle French ether, ethere, aether, from Old French aether (“highest and purest part of the atmosphere; medium supposedly filling the upper regions of space”) (modern French éther), or directly from its etymon Latin aethēr (“highest and purest part of the atmosphere; air; heavens, sky; light of day; ethereal matter surrounding a deity”) (note also New Latin aethēr (“chemical compound analogous to diethyl ether”)), from Ancient Greek αἰθήρ (aithḗr, “purer upper air of the atmosphere; heaven, sky; theoretical medium supposed to fill unoccupied space and transmit heat and light”), from αἴθω (aíthō, “to burn, ignite; to blaze, shine”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eydʰ- (“to burn; fire”). The English word is cognate with Italian ether, ethera (both obsolete), etere, Middle Dutch ether (modern Dutch aether (obsolete), ether), German Äther, Ether, Portuguese éter, Spanish éter.
Etymology 2
From “Ether” (2001), a song by the American hip hop recording artist Nas (born 1973). According to Nas, the song, a diss track aimed at fellow artist Jay-Z (born 1969), was thus named because he was once told that ghosts and spirits do not like the fumes from ether (noun, sense 5), and he viewed the song as affecting Jay-Z in a similar way. The song contains the lines “I fuck with your soul like ether” and “That ether, that shit that make your soul burn slow”.
Etymology 3
From Old French ether, from Latin aether (“the upper pure, bright air”), from Ancient Greek αἰθήρ (aithḗr, “upper air”), from αἴθω (aíthō, “I burn, shine”). Doublet of Aether.
Etymology 4
From Ethereum.