ether

1. 1.

   the fifth and highest element after air and earth and fire and water; was believed to be the substance composing all heavenly bodies

   Synonymsquintessence

   Broaderelement

   archaism

2. 2.

   any of a class of organic compounds that have two hydrocarbon groups linked by an oxygen atom

   Broaderorganic compound
3. 3.

   a medium that was once supposed to fill all space and to support the propagation of electromagnetic waves

   Synonymsaether

   Broadermedium
4. 4.

   a colorless volatile highly flammable liquid formerly used as an inhalation anesthetic

   Synonymsethoxyethanedivinyl ethervinyl etherdiethyl etherethyl ether

   Broaderinhalation anesthetic

   Narrowerenflurane

Other forms of ether

plural

ethers·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about ether

What does ether mean?

ether means "the fifth and highest element after air and earth and fire and water; was believed to be the substance composing all heavenly bodies". That is the primary sense; the word has 4 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in ether?

ether has 2 syllables: e-ther. The stress falls on "e". In IPA it is /ˈiθɚ/.

What is another word for ether?

Close synonyms include quintessence, aether, ethoxyethane, divinyl ether, vinyl ether. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is ether a common word?

ether is banded "Familiar" — widely understood, used when the subject calls for it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.