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
Of these performances, its is the most inanimate and yet evocative.
—
Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 6 June 2025
Still, what separates living, breathing beings from inanimate matter remains frustratingly set in my mind.
—Elizabeth Rush, The Atlantic, 26 May 2025
Even an inanimate sculpture representing a Black woman gets hit with stereotypical projections.
—Taryn Finley, Refinery29, 14 May 2025
That adds individuality to sections of inanimate space.
—Nielsen Dinwoodie, Forbes.com, 15 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for inanimate
Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 6 June 2025
Still, what separates living, breathing beings from inanimate matter remains frustratingly set in my mind.
—Elizabeth Rush, The Atlantic, 26 May 2025
Even an inanimate sculpture representing a Black woman gets hit with stereotypical projections.
—Taryn Finley, Refinery29, 14 May 2025
That adds individuality to sections of inanimate space.
—Nielsen Dinwoodie, Forbes.com, 15 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for inanimate
Recent Examples of Synonyms for inanimate
Adjective
-
The women were strangled and rendered unconscious during the attack.—
Ryan Murphy,
IndyStar,
3 Sep. 2025
-
Patients can be briefly roused—for example, to ask them to roll over or change a dressing—before falling unconscious again.—
RJ Mackenzie,
Popular Science,
3 Sep. 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
-
The greatest accusation levied against her is the crime of being an unfeeling mother.—
Kathryn VanArendonk,
Vulture,
11 Aug. 2025
-
Then, the men had to walk around as these unfeeling, aggressive, hyper-masculine creatures.—
Maureen Lee Lenker,
EW.com,
28 May 2025
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
-
Their bodies were found lifeless on June 2 with plastic bags over their heads and evidence that their hands had been zip-tied near their father's truck in a campground.—
Natalie Neysa Alund,
USA Today,
3 Sep. 2025
-
The Gala is lifeless, and not in the fun death-y way the Addams family loves.—
Jessica M. Goldstein,
Vulture,
3 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Inanimate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/inanimate. Accessed 10 Sep. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share