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
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
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Daniel, having fallen off the side of a mountain on a rock-climbing trip with Cherry, is in the hospital, unconscious and fighting for his life.—
Judy Berman,
Time,
10 Sep. 2025
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As Daniel lies unconscious and broken in a hospital bed, the doctors warn Laura and her husband, Howard (Waleed Zuaiter), that their son probably won’t make it.—
Roxana Hadadi,
Vulture,
10 Sep. 2025
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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The greatest accusation levied against her is the crime of being an unfeeling mother.—
Kathryn VanArendonk,
Vulture,
11 Aug. 2025
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Then, the men had to walk around as these unfeeling, aggressive, hyper-masculine creatures.—
Maureen Lee Lenker,
EW.com,
28 May 2025
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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The results cast doubt on whether the plumes truly carry whispers of alien life, or merely echoes of lifeless chemistry on the frozen shell.—
Sharmila Kuthunur,
Space.com,
12 Sep. 2025
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Charles-Haden Savage (Steve Martin), Mabel Mora (Selena Gomez) and Oliver Putnam (Martin Short) discovered Lester’s lifeless body submerged in an Arconia fountain in the Season 4 finale.—
Erin Jensen,
USA Today,
11 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Inanimate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/inanimate. Accessed 18 Sep. 2025.
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