English Explanatory Dictionary

immaterial

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adj
  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.
noun
  1. A being or entity having no matter or substance.
  2. A thing which is abstract or intangible; (uncountable) chiefly preceded by the: things which are abstract or intangible considered collectively.

Pronunciation

/ˌɪ.məˈtɪə.ɹɪ.əl/ /ˌɪ.məˈtɪ.ɹi.əl/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vininn126-immaterial.wav /ˌɪ.məˈti.ɹi.əl/

Word forms

immaterial more immaterial most immaterial immaterials

Etymology

The adjective is derived from Late Middle English immaterial, inmateriall (“incorporeal; spiritual”), from Middle French immateriel (“not material”) (modern French immatériel), and from its etymon Medieval Latin immāteriālis (“not material”), from Latin im- (a variant of in- (prefix meaning ‘not’)) + māteriālis (“made of matter, material”) (from māteria (“matter, substance, material”) (from māter, from Proto-Indo-European *méh₂tēr, + ia) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives of relationship)). The English word is analysable as im- + material. The noun is derived from the adjective.

Synonyms

intangible nonmaterial unmaterial airy aery ethereal immaterial insubstantial tenuous unreal unsubstantial base contemptible floccinaucinihilipilificatious foolish for the birds futile frivolous idle ignorable inconsequential inconsiderable indifferent insignificant like a fart in a windstorm meager mean minor miserable negligible nothingburger nondescript null paltry petty picayune picayunish piddling piddly pissant pissass piteous pitiful pointless silly simple slight ticky-tacky tin-pot trifling trivial two-bit unimportant unweighty vain worthless wretched diaphanous flimsy gossamer

Antonyms

corporeal material tangible actual bodily choical concrete hylic hylical meaty physical real substantive big central consequential critical crucial epochful essential extraordinary fateful fatefraught fatesome heavy pivotal high on the totem pole historic innegligible key life-or-death meaningful necessary noted noticeable observable outstanding paramount pertinent relevant remarkable salient significant unignorable valuable vital weighty germane affiliated allied apposite associated comparative connected important related relative

Related words

material materiality materially matter nonmaterial nonmaterialism nonmaterialist nonmaterialistic nonmateriality nonmaterially unmaterial unmaterialised unmaterialized unmaterialist unmaterialistic unmaterialistically

Derived words

immaterialism immaterialist immateriality immaterialize immaterialized immaterially immaterialness
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
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