inanimate

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English inanimate, from Late Latin inanimātus, from Latin in- + animātus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪnˈænɪmət/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Adjective

inanimate (comparative more inanimate, superlative most inanimate)

1. Lacking the quality or ability of motion; as an inanimate object.
   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XV, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 172:

     The love of the inanimate is a general feeling. True, it makes no return of affection, neither does it disappoint it; its associations are from our thoughts and emotions.

2. Not being, and never having been alive, especially not like humans and animals.
   • 1818, Mary Shelley, chapter 5, in Frankenstein‎^[1], archived from the original on 31 October 2011:

     I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body.

3. (grammar) Not animate.

Synonyms

• (unable to move): immobile, motionless
• (not alive): non-animate, lifeless, insentient, insensate

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “grammar”): animate

Related terms

• deanimate

Translations

not mobile

• Bulgarian: неподви́жен (bg) (nepodvížen)
• Catalan: inanimat (ca)
• Finnish: liikkumaton (fi) (lacking the quality); liikkumiskyvytön (lacking the ability)
• Galician: inanimado (gl)
• German: bewegungslos (de), unbewegbar (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: ἄψυχος (ápsukhos)

• Hungarian: élettelen (hu)
• Manx: neuannymagh
• Old English: unstyriende
• Russian: неподви́жный (ru) (nepodvížnyj)
• Spanish: inanimado (es)
• Turkish: hareket edemeyen

not alive

• Armenian: անշունչ (hy) (anšunčʻ)
• Belarusian: нежывы́ (nježyvý), бязду́шны (be) (bjazdúšny)
• Bulgarian: безду́шен (bg) (bezdúšen), безжи́знен (bg) (bezžíznen)
• Catalan: inanimat (ca)
• Dutch: levenloos (nl)
• Esperanto: senviva
• Finnish: eloton (fi)
• Galician: inanimado (gl)
• German: leblos (de)
• Greek: άψυχος (el) (ápsychos)

  Ancient: ἄψυχος (ápsukhos)

• Hungarian: élettelen (hu)
• Latin: inanimus (la)
• Old English: līflēas
• Pashto: بې سا (ps) (be sâ)
• Romanian: inanimat (ro), neanimat (ro)
• Russian: неживо́й (ru) (neživój), безду́шный (ru) (bezdúšnyj), безжи́зненный (ru) (bezžíznennyj)
• Spanish: inanimado (es)
• Turkish: cansız (tr), ölü (tr)
• Ukrainian: неживи́й (nežyvýj), безду́шний (uk) (bezdúšnyj)

in grammar

• Armenian: անշունչ (hy) (anšunčʻ)
• Belarusian: неадушаўлёны (njeadušaŭljóny), нежывы́ (nježyvý)
• Bulgarian: неодушеве́н (bg) (neoduševén)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 無生的／无生的 (wúshēng de)

• Czech: neživotný (cs) m
• Dutch: onbezield (nl)
• Finnish: eloton (fi)
• French: inanimé (fr)
• Galician: inanimado (gl)
• German: unbelebt (de)
• Hungarian: élettelen (hu)
• Japanese: 無生の (むせいの, musei-no)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: амьгүй (amʹgüj)

  Mongolian: ᠠᠮᠢ
  ᠦᠭᠡᠶ (ami ügey)

• Pashto: بې سا (ps) (be sâ)
• Polish: nieżywotny
• Russian: неодушевлённый (ru) (neoduševljónnyj), неживо́й (ru) (neživój) (colloquial)
• Swedish: obesjälad, livlös (sv)
• Turkish: cansız (tr)
• Ukrainian: неживи́й (nežyvýj), неісто́та f (neistóta) (noun)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Estonian: ^{(please verify)} elutu (et)

Noun

inanimate (plural inanimates)

1. (rare) Something that is not alive.

Etymology 2

Latin inanimō; equivalent to in- (intensive) +‎ animate

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪnˈænɪmeɪt/

Verb

inanimate (third-person singular simple present inanimates, present participle inanimating, simple past and past participle inanimated)

1. (obsolete) To animate.
   • 1621, John Donne, An Anatomy of the World: The First Anniversary:

     For there's a kind of world remaining still, Though shee which did inanimate and fill

Anagrams

• Mantineia, amanitine, maintaine

Italian

Adjective

inanimate f pl

1. feminine plural of inanimato

Anagrams

• amanitine

Latin

Adjective

inanimāte

1. vocative masculine singular of inanimātus