as in unconscious
lacking animate awareness or sensation
"pathetic fallacy" is the literary term for the ascription of human feelings or motives to inanimate natural elements
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of inanimate
The brightly colored, inanimate pieces are adaptable across all class and ethnicity barriers, just like pop music.
—
Armond White, National Review, 11 Oct. 2024
There were no strict boundaries between space and time, the forces of nature or the animate and inanimate worlds.
—James L. Fitzsimmons, The Conversation, 3 Oct. 2024
Evident before us and present in all matter—animate and inanimate—is the atom.
—Pravir Malik, Forbes, 1 Oct. 2024
If pressed, some argue the indignation over the defacement itself betrays how little our culture values the planet when compared to inanimate works of canvas and pigment.
—Tribune News Service, The Mercury News, 17 Sep. 2024
See All Example Sentences for inanimate
Armond White, National Review, 11 Oct. 2024
There were no strict boundaries between space and time, the forces of nature or the animate and inanimate worlds.
—James L. Fitzsimmons, The Conversation, 3 Oct. 2024
Evident before us and present in all matter—animate and inanimate—is the atom.
—Pravir Malik, Forbes, 1 Oct. 2024
If pressed, some argue the indignation over the defacement itself betrays how little our culture values the planet when compared to inanimate works of canvas and pigment.
—Tribune News Service, The Mercury News, 17 Sep. 2024
See All Example Sentences for inanimate
Recent Examples of Synonyms for inanimate
Adjective
-
The actress was unconscious and unresponsive, according to the New York Police Department.—
Brie Stimson,
Fox News,
27 Feb. 2025
-
This residual may stem from conscious or unconscious bias or other factors outside the scope of this research.—
Kweilin Ellingrud,
Forbes,
26 Feb. 2025
Adjective
-
The brain, like other internal organs, is insensate, its lack of sensory receptors attested by videos of virtuoso violinists who play on unfazed as neurosurgeons go to work inside their skulls.—
Matthew Ponsford,
WIRED,
19 Sep. 2024
-
But states have used midazolam alone — and at much higher doses — in executions since 2013, claiming the drug will render people insensate to pain before the administration of other lethal injection drugs.—
Lauren Gill,
ProPublica,
29 Apr. 2023
Adjective
-
So much modern football is mechanical and unfeeling; Joao Felix is loose and breezy.—
Jack Lang,
The Athletic,
9 Feb. 2025
-
Human failings amidst an unfeeling snowpocalypse make for some engaging scenes.—
Ars Technica,
Ars Technica,
22 Dec. 2024
Adjective
-
This is partly because the loss of insentient machinery, no matter how expensive, is easier to stomach than the death of an aircrew.—
Lauren Kahn,
Foreign Affairs,
6 June 2023
-
But its shortcomings are essentially those of the novel: its single-track didacticism; its neat pitting of romantic idealists against macho, insentient normies; and the fact that a decisive plot twist can be spotted a mile off.—
Houman Barekat,
New York Times,
29 Mar. 2023
Adjective
-
The latest episode of Yellowjackets left viewers staring at the lifeless body of someone in the main cast.—
Jackie Strause,
The Hollywood Reporter,
28 Feb. 2025
-
Unidentified takes its cue from the discovery of the lifeless body of a teenage girl in the desert outside a small town.—
Melanie Goodfellow,
Deadline,
26 Feb. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Inanimate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/inanimate. Accessed 13 Mar. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share