aerial

English

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Etymology

From Latin āerius, from Ancient Greek ἀέριος (aerios), from ἀήρ (“air”).

Pronunciation

Adjective

aerial (comparative more aerial, superlative most aerial)

  1. Living or taking place in the air. [from 16th c.]
    The seabirds put on an astonishing aerial display.
  2. (now literary or historical) Made up of air or gas; gaseous. [from 16th c.]
    • 1782, Joseph Priestley, Disquisitions relating to matter and spirit, I:
      A soul [...] was first conceived to be an aerial, or an igneous substance, which animates the body during life, and makes its escape at death [...].
  3. Positioned high up; elevated. [from 16th c.]
    The aerial photographs clearly showed the damage caused by the storm.
  4. Ethereal, insubstantial; imaginary. [from 16th c.]
    • 1714, Bernard Mandeville, The Fable of the Bees:
      the great Recompence in view, for which the most exalted Minds have with so much Alacrity, sacrifis'd their Quiet, Health, sensual Pleasures, and every inch of themselves, has never been any thing else but the Breath of Man, the Aerial Coyn of Praise.
  5. Pertaining to the air or atmosphere; atmospheric. [from 17th c.]
  6. Pertaining to a vehicle which travels through the air; airborne; relating to or conducted by means of aircraft. [from 17th c.]

Translations

taking place in the air
ethereal

Noun

aerial (plural aerials)

  1. (chiefly UK) A device for receiving or transmitting radio, television signals etc.
  2. A dance move involving one or both feet leaving the ground.
    • 2002, Joseph A. Kotarba, John M. Johnson, Postmodern Existential Sociology (page 78)
      In their dancing, clubbers were flamboyant. They experimented with new dance steps and improvisations, including risky maneuvers and aerials in which women were flipped into the air.

Usage notes

Some make a distinction between an antenna and an aerial, with the former used to indicate a rigid structure, and the latter consisting of a wire strung in the air. For those who do not make a distinction, antenna is more commonly used in the United States and aerial is more commonly used in the United Kingdom.

Synonyms

  • (device for receiving or transmitting): antenna

Translations

a device for receiving or transmitting
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Derived terms

Anagrams

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Last modified on 19 May 2013, at 16:43