INANIMATE Synonyms: 21 Similar and Opposite Words

inanimate

adjective

(ˌ)i-ˈna-nə-mət

Definition of inanimate

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

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 But there are inanimate pets in the cemetery. — Jennie Key, Cincinnati Enquirer, 31 Mar. 2026 On the morning after the hurricane, these objects revert to their inanimate status quo—but the deviation has been recorded, as fiction. — Hannah Gold, Harpers Magazine, 24 Mar. 2026 Its lifeworld, its temporal and spatial perspective, contrasts with the human, rendering our characters as distant, as inanimate, as the stelae and sculptures that surround them. — Ben Lerner, The New York Review of Books, 19 Mar. 2026 Suddenly, the buildings were not inanimate beings but creatures of memory and scars. — Matthew Carey, Deadline, 16 Mar. 2026 See All Example Sentences for inanimate

Recent Examples of Synonyms for inanimate

Adjective

Narges Mohammadi, 54, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2023, was temporarily released from prison for medical reasons earlier this year after falling unconscious and being transferred to a hospital.

— Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 20 Sep. 2026
Sharaf connected with a clean 1-2 combination, with the left hook turning Steveson’s head and leaving the Olympic gold medalist unconscious on the canvas.

— ABC News, ABC News, 20 Sep. 2026

Definition of unconscious

Adjective

This insensate gaze is one that cannot be returned, as Jacques Lacan observed of the camera pointed at him during his performative lecture Télévision, recorded in 1973 and broadcast on prime-time TV in France.

— Jan Tumlir, Artforum, 5 Aug. 2026
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

Definition of insensate

Adjective

Civilizations could have risen to their zenith and crumbled in the time our micrometeoroid spent traversing the unfeeling expanse of interplanetary space, but its demise lasted but a fraction of a second.

— Anthony Wood, Space.com, 21 July 2026
Readers can judge Jane and me, deciding that one of us was unfeeling or uncomprehending.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 13 July 2026

Definition of unfeeling

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
Genes are insentient things and cannot be said to have any kind of purposeful selfish or unselfish behavior.

— Quanta Magazine, Quanta Magazine, 14 Sep. 2017

Definition of insentient

Adjective

The death of a 41-year-old homeless woman whose lifeless body was found on a hiking trail in an Upper Manhattan park has been ruled a homicide, cops said Friday.

— Rocco Parascandola, New York Daily News, 18 Sep. 2026
Put simply, Norwood is the epitome of the AI industry getting high off its own supply, deluding itself into thinking that watching lifeless AI agents going through the motions on screen is something that anybody actually wants.

— Victor Tangermann, Futurism, 10 Sep. 2026

Definition of lifeless

Browse Nearby Words

inanes

inanimate

inanimately

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“Inanimate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/inanimate. Accessed 23 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of inanimate

adjective

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