Immaterial Meaning
/ˌɪ.məˈtɪə.ɹɪ.əl/Definition, CEFR level C2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjHaving no matter or substance; incorporeal.
adjOf the nature of the soul or spirit; spiritual.
Sentence Examples
This data is immaterial to the argument.
Age is immaterial, unless you're a bottle of wine.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
CEFR Practice Quiz
The color of the car is ____; I only care about its price.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The judge ruled that the witness's personal opinion was ____ to the actual facts of the case.
Word Origin & History
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.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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?"
— 1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter XXI, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC, page 118:
"[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."
— 1662, Edward Stillingfleet, “Of the Being of God”, in Origines Sacræ, or A Rational Account of the Grounds of Christian Faith, […], London: […] R[obert] W[hite] for Henry Mortlock […], →OCLC, book III, page 411:
"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; […]"
— 1859–1861, [Thomas Hughes], chapter 1, in Tom Brown at Oxford: […], part 1st, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, published 1861, →OCLC, page 11:
"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— […]"
— c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Famous Historie of Troylus and Cresseid. […] (First Quarto), London: […] G[eorge] Eld for R[ichard] Bonian and H[enry] Walley, […], published 1609, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], signature K, recto:
"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."
— 1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], chapter XVI, in Emma: […], volume II, London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, →OCLC, pages 303–304:
Explore More C2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The color of the car is ____; I only care about its price.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The judge ruled that the witness's personal opinion was ____ to the actual facts of the case.