Immaterial

/ˌɪ.məˈtɪə.ɹɪ.əl/ · adjective

Meaning

Having no matter or substance; incorporeal..

Definitions by Sense

1. Having no matter or substance; incorporeal.
2. Of the nature of the soul or spirit; spiritual.
3. Of no importance; inconsequential, insignificant, unimportant.
4. Having or seeming to have very little substance; insubstantial, slight.
5. Especially of evidence; chiefly followed by to: not associated in any way that is important or useful to the context being discussed; irrelevant.
6. (countable, chiefly in the plural) A being or entity having no matter or substance.
7. (countable, chiefly in the plural) A thing which is abstract or intangible; (uncountable) chiefly preceded by the: things which are abstract or intangible considered collectively.

Example Sentences

Some believe that because ghosts are immaterial, they can pass through walls.

You feel like a disembodied spirit, immaterial; and you seem to be able to touch beauty as though it were a palpable thing; and you feel an intimate communion with the breeze, and with the trees breaking into leaf, and with the iridescence of the river. You feel like God. Can you explain that to me?

[T]here are ſome beings in the vvorld vvhich cannot depend upon matter or motion, i.e. that there are ſome ſpiritual and immaterial ſubstances or Beings […] If there be then ſuch things in the vvorld vvhich matter and motion cannot be the cauſes of, then there are certainly spiritual and immaterial Beings, and that I ſhall make appear both as to the minds of men, and to ſome extraordinary effects vvhich are produced in the vvorld.

He has also been good enough to recommend to me many tradesmen who are ready to supply these articles in any quantities; each of whom has been here already a dozen times, cap in hand, and vowing that it is quite immaterial when I pay—which is very kind of them; […]

No, vvhy art thou then exaſperate, thou idle, / immaterial ſkeine of ſleiue ſilke; thou greene ſacenet flap for a ſore eye, thou toſſell of a prodigalls purſe— […]

Mr. Woodhouse considered eight persons at dinner together as the utmost that his nerves could bear—and here was a ninth— […] She [Emma] comforted her father better than she could comfort herself, by representing that though he certainly would make them nine, yet he always said so little, that the increase of noise would be very immaterial.

Objection, your Honour! The defendant’s criminal record is immaterial to this case.

He was perpetually at her side, trying, apparently, to preserve the thread of a disconnected talk, the fate of which was, to judge by her face, profoundly immaterial to the young lady.

Synonyms for immaterial

Antonyms for immaterial

Related Words

Word Forms

• more immaterial
• most immaterial
• immaterials

Usage Notes

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