immaterial

CEFRC2

/ˌɪ.məˈtɪə.ɹɪ.əl/

adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    adjective

    Not important or relevant.

  2. 02

    adjective

    Extra detail

    Of no importance; inconsequential, insignificant, unimportant.

Examples

  • Age is immaterial, unless you're a bottle of wine.

  • This data is immaterial to the argument.

At a glance

Sits at C2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Also pronounced

  • /ˌɪ.məˈti.ɹi.əl/
  • /ˌɪ.məˈtɪ.ɹi.əl/

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings

  1. Of the nature of the soul or spirit; spiritual.

  2. Having no matter or substance; incorporeal.

  3. Especially of evidence; chiefly followed by to: not associated in any way that is important or useful to the context being discussed; irrelevant.

More examples

In context

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

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

  • 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

Antonyms

Quick test

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The color of the car is blank; I only care about its price.

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Nearby

Origin

adjective

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.