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War is not an exercise of the will directed at an inanimate matter.
Carl von Clausewitz

Meaning of "inanimate" in the English dictionary

Dictionary
DICTIONARY
section

PRONUNCIATION OF INANIMATE

inanimate  [ɪnˈænɪmɪt] play
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GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF INANIMATE

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Inanimate is an adjective.
The adjective is the word that accompanies the noun to determine or qualify it.

WHAT DOES INANIMATE MEAN IN ENGLISH?

Animacy

Animacy is a grammatical and semantic principle expressed in language based on how sentient or alive the referent of a noun is. Widely expressed, animacy is one of the most basic principles in languages across the globe, and is a distinction acquired as early as 6 months of age. Concepts of animacy constantly vary beyond a simple animate vs. inanimate binary; many languages function off of a hierarchical General Animacy Scale that ranks animacy as a “matter of gradience”. Typically the scale ranks humans above animals, then plants, natural forces, concrete objects, and abstract objects, in that order. In referring to humans, this scale contains a Hierarcy of ‘Persons’, ranking first and second person pronouns above third person – partly a product of empathy, involving the speaker and interlocutor. Additionally, the hierarchy tends to place singular persons over plural – though this carries exceptions.

Definition of inanimate in the English dictionary

The first definition of inanimate in the dictionary is lacking the qualities or features of living beings; not animate. Other definition of inanimate is lacking any sign of life or consciousness; appearing dead. Inanimate is also lacking vitality; spiritless; dull.

WORDS THAT RHYME WITH INANIMATE


antepenultimate
ˌæntɪpɪˈnʌltɪmɪt
approximate
əˈprɒksɪmɪt
climate
ˈklaɪmɪt
delimit
diːˈlɪmɪt
exanimate
ɪɡˈzænɪmɪt
guesstimate
ˈɡɛstɪmɪt
illegitimate
ˌɪlɪˈdʒɪtɪmɪt
intimate
ˈɪntɪmɪt
legitimate
lɪˈdʒɪtɪmɪt
limit
ˈlɪmɪt
microclimate
ˈmaɪkrəʊˌklaɪmɪt
penultimate
pɪˈnʌltɪmɪt
proximate
ˈprɒksɪmɪt
semmit
ˈsɪmɪt
sublimit
ˈsʌbˌlɪmɪt
ultimate
ˈʌltɪmɪt

WORDS THAT BEGIN LIKE INANIMATE

inalterable
inalterableness
inalterably
inamorata
inamorati
inamorato
inane
inanely
inaneness
inanga
inanimately
inanimateness
inanimation
inanities
inanition
inanity
inapparent
inapparently
inappeasable
inappellable

WORDS THAT END LIKE INANIMATE

animate
collimate
continental climate
corrosive sublimate
cost estimate
decimate
disanimate
estimate
guestimate
interval estimate
macroclimate
mate
optimate
overestimate
palaeoclimate
point estimate
primate
reanimate
reestimate
sublimate
underestimate

Synonyms and antonyms of inanimate in the English dictionary of synonyms

SYNONYMS

SYNONYMS OF «INANIMATE»

The following words have a similar or identical meaning as «inanimate» and belong to the same grammatical category.
synonyms of inanimate

Translation of «inanimate» into 25 languages

TRANSLATOR
online translator

TRANSLATION OF INANIMATE

Find out the translation of inanimate to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.
The translations of inanimate from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «inanimate» in English.

Translator English - Chinese

无生命的
1,325 millions of speakers

Translator English - Spanish

inanimado
570 millions of speakers

English

inanimate
510 millions of speakers

Translator English - Hindi

निर्जीव
380 millions of speakers
ar

Translator English - Arabic

جماد
280 millions of speakers

Translator English - Russian

неодушевленный
278 millions of speakers

Translator English - Portuguese

inanimado
270 millions of speakers

Translator English - Bengali

জড়
260 millions of speakers

Translator English - French

inanimé
220 millions of speakers

Translator English - Malay

Tidak bernyawa
190 millions of speakers

Translator English - German

unbelebten
180 millions of speakers

Translator English - Japanese

生気のない
130 millions of speakers

Translator English - Korean

생명이없는
85 millions of speakers

Translator English - Javanese

Inanimate
85 millions of speakers
vi

Translator English - Vietnamese

không có sinh lực
80 millions of speakers

Translator English - Tamil

உயிரற்ற
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Marathi

निर्जीव
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Turkish

cansız
70 millions of speakers

Translator English - Italian

inanimato
65 millions of speakers

Translator English - Polish

nieożywionej
50 millions of speakers

Translator English - Ukrainian

неживий
40 millions of speakers

Translator English - Romanian

neînsuflețit
30 millions of speakers
el

Translator English - Greek

άψυχα
15 millions of speakers
af

Translator English - Afrikaans

lewelose
14 millions of speakers
sv

Translator English - Swedish

inanimate
10 millions of speakers
no

Translator English - Norwegian

livløse
5 millions of speakers

Trends of use of inanimate

TRENDS

TENDENCIES OF USE OF THE TERM «INANIMATE»

The term «inanimate» is quite widely used and occupies the 39.712 position in our list of most widely used terms in the English dictionary.
0
100%
FREQUENCY
Quite widely used
82
/100
The map shown above gives the frequency of use of the term «inanimate» in the different countries.
Principal search tendencies and common uses of inanimate
List of principal searches undertaken by users to access our English online dictionary and most widely used expressions with the word «inanimate».

FREQUENCY OF USE OF THE TERM «INANIMATE» OVER TIME

The graph expresses the annual evolution of the frequency of use of the word «inanimate» during the past 500 years. Its implementation is based on analysing how often the term «inanimate» appears in digitalised printed sources in English between the year 1500 and the present day.

Examples of use in the English literature, quotes and news about inanimate

EXAMPLES

10 QUOTES WITH «INANIMATE»

Famous quotes and sentences with the word inanimate.
1
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
I own things I like, but nothing inanimate that I treasure in a deeply consuming way.
2
Russell Baker
Inanimate objects can be classified scientifically into three major categories; those that don't work, those that break down and those that get lost.
3
Michael Behe
Thus it seemed to Haeckel that such simple life could easily be produced from inanimate material.
4
Peter Benchley
I don't believe in blaming inanimate objects for anything.
5
John Tyler Bonner
Any object, whether animate or inanimate, will have a size. Airplanes, boats, or musical string instruments vary in size just like animals and plants, and in all cases, their size and their material construction are totally different matters even though they affect one another.
6
Nicholas A. Christakis
We will create life from inanimate compounds, and we will find life in space. But the life that should more immediately interest us lies between these extremes, in the middle range we all inhabit between our genes and our stars.
7
Carl von Clausewitz
War is not an exercise of the will directed at an inanimate matter.
8
Jeff Dunham
It's amazing how these little guys can say things that a mortal human could never get away with. There's some sort of unspoken license... when outlandish things come out of an inanimate object, somehow it equals humor.
9
William Dean Howells
The mortality of all inanimate things is terrible to me, but that of books most of all.
10
Jean Hanff Korelitz
To me, respect for human life begins with making it more difficult to obtain an inanimate object that is designed to snuff it out.

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «INANIMATE»

Discover the use of inanimate in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to inanimate and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.
1
Inanimate Heroes
Andrew is a timid high school student in a small town named Tomliw.
Zack W. Van, Debby Newman, 2012
2
Sudden Noises from Inanimate Objects: A Novel in Liner Notes
Pushed by his father's ambitions and surrounded by expectations about a piano career despite his lack of talent, egocentric Simon Silber, as observed by associate Norm Fayrewether, struggles with the frustrations of his art and his quest ...
Christopher Miller, 2004
3
Inanimate Apollyon
By abusing her and trying to conquer her, we unleash the powers of both heaven and hell. To some who are more sensitive, we can feel this. It is ok to fight, but if we do, we can open ourselves to something dark). Inanimate Apollyon
Brad Lowell, 2012
4
Voices Restless Inanimate
Included in this volume are the fifteen poems that comprise the collections Milling In The Cemetery, This Structure Without Words and Cold When She Dances.Published for the first time together, these poems offer the reader a chance to ...
Pablo Gonzalez, 2005
5
Voices Restless Inanimate
Collected in this volume are the poems that comprise Sult's four previous collections; Cold When She Dances, This Structure Without Words, Milling In The Cemetery and Salamander Debts.
Constantine Sult, 2007
6
The Evolution of Inanimate Objects: The Life and Collected ...
The Evolution of Inanimate Objects: The Life and Collected Works of Thomas Darwin (1857-1879) is (emphatically!) a work of analogy and fiction. This open acknowledgment of the manufactured nature of this work distinguishes it from those ...
Harry Karlinsky, 2010
7
The Use of Inanimate Subjects with the Get-passive: A ...
Collocations with shot Looking at Figure 1, it becomes obvious that both in British and American English, inanimate subjects are far more frequent with the be- passive variant than with get-passive variant of shot, namely in both cases three ...
Caroline Steinhoff, 2008
8
The Nature of Things: The Secret Life of Inanimate Objects
Watson explores the subtle forces of memory fields and suggests that matter has the capacity to absorb emotional “fingerprints,” the mental fossils that channel echoes from the past.
Lyall Watson, 1992
9
Natural History of the Inanimate Creation: Being a Guide to ...
Being a Guide to the Scenery of the Heavens, the Phenomena of the Atmosphere , the Structure and Geological Features of the Earth, and Its Botanical Productions. 76 FIRST STATE OF THE EARTH. Judging partly from the general ...
‎1856
10
Historical Discourse Analysis: Grammatical Subject in Japanese
As discussed in Chapter 1, previous studies have claimed that the use of inanimate subjects was limited to intransitive and equati ve sentences (e.g. ki ga taoreta ' the tree fell down', kaze gafuku 'the wind blows') before intensive contact with ...
Noriko Fujii, 1991

10 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «INANIMATE»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term inanimate is used in the context of the following news items.
1
The new Bratz: 'Nobody wears makeup at the gym so why should …
The heels have been replaced by trainers and Doc Martens. With the obvious caveat that they are still inanimate objects, the new generation ... «The Guardian, Jul 15»
2
Teaching sex education misses the point unless you teach boys not …
The judge's decision not to imprison Hustveit, plus reader comments from Irish news sites, suggest that literally using a woman as an inanimate ... «New Statesman, Jul 15»
3
The Logical Solution for Your Work Related Back Pain and R.S.I. …
What do you mean "they're inanimate objects!"? So how are they causing you harm? OK, enough already (as our American cousins would say), I'll get off your ... «Huffington Post UK, Jul 15»
4
'Bacteria Could Be Used to Control Robots' | NDTV Gadgets
Believe it or not bacteria can control the behaviour of an inanimate device like a robot! A scientist from Virginia Institute of Technology has used ... «NDTV, Jul 15»
5
Neurotic People See Faces in Things -- Science of Us
... ways to divide the “types of people in this world” in two, but here is one of my favorites: The people who easily see faces in inanimate objects, ... «New York Magazine, Jul 15»
6
The Yankee Taliban | The American Spectator
Several undergraduates, perhaps frustrated at the havoc the inanimate objects played on their GPAs, recently defaced the effigies with spray ... «American Spectator, Jul 15»
7
allAfrica.com: Nigeria: Building Collapse - Lagos Won't Prosecute …
4 LFN, 2004 stipulates that "It is the duty of every person who has in his charge or under his control anything whether living or inanimate, and ... «AllAfrica.com, Jul 15»
8
Straight-Up Teen: Clothing optional - standard-journal.com : Opinion
I mean it is easier to blame an inanimate object than a human being. It is as if the object caused the human to be a certain way. Within the past ... «Milton Daily Standard, Jul 15»
9
'Dance of the Cranes': a construction pas de deux … - Washington Post
The performance relied upon the audience's willingness to assign animal characteristics to inanimate objects: Think of the construction ... «Washington Post, Jul 15»
10
Black People, Putty People. : ThyBlackMan.com
... we are kept off stride by what the President says rather than what he does, by confederate flags, and by other peripheral inanimate objects. «ThyBlackMan, Jul 15»

REFERENCE
« EDUCALINGO. Inanimate [online]. Available <https://educalingo.com/en/dic-en/inanimate>. Apr 2024 ».
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