etherealize

American  

[ih-theer-ee-uh-lahyz] / ɪˈθɪər i əˌlaɪz /

especially British, etherealise

verb (used with object)

etherealized, etherealizing

1. to make ethereal.

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etherealize British  

/ ɪˈθɪərɪəˌlaɪz /

verb

1. to make or regard as being ethereal

2. to add ether to or make into ether or something resembling ether

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Other Word Forms

• etherealization
  noun

Etymology

Origin of etherealize

First recorded in 1820–30; ethereal + -ize

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

etherealize etherealized etherealizing

Refinement is the lifting of one's self upwards from the merely sensual, the effort of the soul to etherealize the common wants and uses of life.—Beecher.

From Pearls of Thought by Ballou, Maturin Murray

At midnight few scenes could be more calm and beautiful, so tenderly did the light of the moon soften and etherealize everything.

From His Sombre Rivals by Roe, Edward Payson

We shall not have to wait long for the answer to a question which has stirred the heart of mankind to its foundations—can Women etherealize society?

From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine — Volume 55, No. 342, April, 1844 by Various

She would seek to improve on Nature's handiwork; she would etherealize it, make it so dainty that it would become poetry instead of the beautiful plain language the universal mother sometimes speaks.

From A Top-Floor Idyl by Van Schaick, George

He was well aware of the proportions of things; he had no despair of the Idea, nor would he despair should the Idea etherealize and fly away.

From The Imperialist by Duncan, Sara Jeannette

They were etherealized through delicate pastels, and while Brundage created images to appeal to the male gaze, she also could portray women as purposeful agents rather than passive victims.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 21, 2025

It would alter abstract painting itself, since his preoccupation with surge and flow got across to Pollock and, much etherealized, led to Pollock's invention of "all-over" abstraction.

From Time Magazine Archive

Patrick O'Neal's Shannon seems half eaten away by the termites of moral corruption, and Margaret Leighton's Hannah is an etherealized vision of grace and gravity.

From Time Magazine Archive

By the time Gabriel Pascal saw her, plain living and plenty of walking had etherealized the dumpling to that lithe spirit which Pascal singled out.

From Time Magazine Archive

She thought of herself as standing, naked of soul, unbodied, in some far etherealized atmosphere, and she shuddered.

From Claire The Blind Love of a Blind Hero, By a Blind Author by Blades, Leslie Burton

While the paintings represent chic, modern women who belong to a world of elegance and luxury, they also have the effect of exoticizing and etherealizing their subjects.

From New York Times ● Oct. 13, 2016

Much as he might have liked to strip down to bare revelations, Meredith, a tailor's son to the end, settled for a costume change, etherealizing passion and abstracting love into a distant, chaste project.

From Time Magazine Archive

And he was the son of a poet with an admirable gift of individualising, of etherealizing the common-place; of making touching, delicate, fascinating the most hopeless conventions of the, so-called, refined existence.

From Chance A Tale in Two Parts by Conrad, Joseph

It has been said, consumption sublimates the mind, stealing from the body, etherealizing and intensifying the intellect.

From The Memories of Fifty Years Containing Brief Biographical Notices of Distinguished Americans, and Anecdotes of Remarkable Men; Interspersed with Scenes and Incidents Occurring during a Long Life of Observation Chiefly Spent in the Southwest by Sparks, William Henry

A conflagration raging near now began to flame so high that its lights flickered on the girl's face, etherealizing its beauty, and turning her fluffy hair to gold.

From The Earth Trembled by Roe, Edward Payson