Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
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adj
Having no matter or substance; incorporeal.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Synonyms: intangible, nonmaterial, unmaterial, airy, aery, ethereal, immaterial, insubstantial, tenuous, unreal, unsubstantial
Antonyms: corporeal, material, tangible, actual, bodily, choical, concrete, hylic, hylical, meaty, physical, real, substantive
adj
Of the nature of the soul or spirit; spiritual.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adj
Of no importance; inconsequential, insignificant, unimportant.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: figuratively
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: base, contemptible, floccinaucinihilipilificatious, foolish, for the birds, futile, frivolous, idle, ignorable, immaterial, 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
Antonyms: 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
adj
Having or seeming to have very little substance; insubstantial, slight.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: figuratively, rare
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: diaphanous, flimsy, gossamer, airy, aery, ethereal, immaterial, insubstantial, tenuous, unreal, unsubstantial
Antonyms: none provided
adj
Especially of evidence; chiefly followed by to: not associated in any way that is important or useful to the context being discussed; irrelevant.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: figuratively
Topics: law
Synonyms: neither here nor there, ungermane, arbitrary, betwixt and between, incoherent, independent, irrelative, irrespective, self-standing, separate, unallied, unconnected, unimportant, unrelated
Antonyms: germane, material, pertinent, relevant, affiliated, allied, apposite, associated, comparative, connected, important, related, relative
noun
A being or entity having no matter or substance.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, in-plural
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A thing which is abstract or intangible; (uncountable) chiefly preceded by the: things which are abstract or intangible considered collectively.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, in-plural
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adjective
not consisting of matter
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: nonmaterial
Antonyms: material
adjective
without material form or substance
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: incorporeal
Antonyms: none provided
adjective
of no importance or relevance especially to a law case
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: material
adjective satellite
(often followed by `to') lacking importance; not mattering one way or the other
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: indifferent
Antonyms: none provided
adjective satellite
not pertinent to the matter under consideration
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: extraneous, impertinent, orthogonal
Antonyms: none provided
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.
Across languages
19 source translations are retained for this English entry.
