immaterial
Part of speech: adj
noun
Morphological type: derivation
Topics: law
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.
Base: material
Affixes: im-
Inflected forms:
form: more immaterial
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: most immaterial
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: immaterials
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: Having no matter or substance; incorporeal.
pos: adj
examples: 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?
gloss: Of the nature of the soul or spirit; spiritual.
pos: adj
examples: [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.
gloss: Of no importance; inconsequential, insignificant, unimportant.
pos: adj
tags: figuratively
examples: 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; […]
gloss: Having or seeming to have very little substance; insubstantial, slight.
pos: adj
tags: figuratively
rare
examples: 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.
gloss: Especially of evidence; chiefly followed by to: not associated in any way that is important or useful to the context being discussed; irrelevant.
pos: adj
tags: figuratively
examples: 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.
gloss: A being or entity having no matter or substance.
pos: noun
tags: countable
in-plural
gloss: A thing which is abstract or intangible; (uncountable) chiefly preceded by the: things which are abstract or intangible considered collectively.
pos: noun
tags: countable
in-plural
examples: Lodge immaterials in thy Head: aſcend unto inviſibles: fill thy Spirit vvith Spirituals, vvith the myſteries of Faith, the magnalities of Religion, and thy Life vvith the Honour of God; […]
And we do absolutely know that these men's inborn temperaments have remained unchanged through all the vicissitudes of their material affairs. Let us see how it is with their immaterials.
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
Translations: