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
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of inanimate
Disinfect Surfaces Cold-causing viruses can survive on inanimate surface areas for hours.
—
Christopher Bergland, Verywell Health, 15 Jan. 2026
Songbirds bond for seasons, octopuses defend their mates, and children shower their affection on inanimate plushies.
—Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 28 Nov. 2025
Many people backed his daughter because there was a dog outside in a way, while others acknowledge how creepy that inanimate face could be to a child.
—Alyce Collins, MSNBC Newsweek, 15 Sep. 2025
While there are several categories of verbs, language learners first learn two—inanimate and animate verbs—in order to be able to conjugate and speak the most basic of sentences.
—Literary Hub, 8 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for inanimate
Christopher Bergland, Verywell Health, 15 Jan. 2026
Songbirds bond for seasons, octopuses defend their mates, and children shower their affection on inanimate plushies.
—Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 28 Nov. 2025
Many people backed his daughter because there was a dog outside in a way, while others acknowledge how creepy that inanimate face could be to a child.
—Alyce Collins, MSNBC Newsweek, 15 Sep. 2025
While there are several categories of verbs, language learners first learn two—inanimate and animate verbs—in order to be able to conjugate and speak the most basic of sentences.
—Literary Hub, 8 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for inanimate
Recent Examples of Synonyms for inanimate
Adjective
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Responding officers found the girl was unconscious and nonresponsive.—
WCCO Staff,
CBS News,
1 Mar. 2026
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The problems were reignited when Fluker, 27, was beaten and choked unconscious by a Central Richmond rival in Sacramento on June 17, 2024, prosecutors say.—
Nate Gartrell,
Mercury News,
28 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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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
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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
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There’d be too much sympathy in watching this cookie get pulverized by unfeeling overlords.—
Kathryn VanArendonk,
Vulture,
26 Feb. 2026
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For example, 1975’s Welfare carefully documents the hoops that working people had to jump through to obtain welfare benefits at New York’s Waverly Welfare Center, representing the government as an intractable and unfeeling force.—
Vikram Murthi,
The Atlantic,
22 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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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
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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
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Lush green reeds in the channel had suddenly turned brown and lifeless, and birds had disappeared.—
Ian James,
Los Angeles Times,
1 Mar. 2026
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Hiller was in just his second full season in charge of the Kings, who looked lifeless Thursday in an 8-1 loss to the Edmonton Oilers — the team that also sent Los Angeles home early from the past four Stanley Cup playoffs.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
1 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Inanimate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/inanimate. Accessed 7 Mar. 2026.
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