Meaning & use
immateriality
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Meanings
noununcountablelegalformal
The quality of being unimportant to a decision or case, so that it makes no difference to the outcome.
Grammar: Used without an or the in most cases: the immateriality of the error.
Patterns
- the immateriality of something
The judge dismissed the objection because of its immateriality to the verdict.
The auditor noted the immateriality of the small rounding differences.
Lawyers argued about the immateriality of the missing signature.
noununcountableformal
The state of having no physical body or substance, as with a spirit or an idea.
Grammar: Often followed by of: the immateriality of the soul.
Patterns
- the immateriality of something
Many philosophers have debated the immateriality of the mind.
The ghost story played on the immateriality of its main character.
He was struck by the immateriality of digital money.
Common combinations
- the immateriality of the error
- The court accepted the immateriality of the error.
- argue immateriality
- The defense chose to argue immateriality rather than deny the facts.
- apparent immateriality
- The apparent immateriality of the detail fooled no one.
- immateriality of the soul
- Early thinkers wrote at length on the immateriality of the soul.
- test of immateriality
- The test of immateriality is whether a reader's decision would change.
Synonyms and how they differ
- irrelevance
- Irrelevance is the everyday word; immateriality is narrower and mostly legal or financial.
- insignificance
- Insignificance means smallness in general, while immateriality means it does not change the result.
- incorporeality
- Incorporeality is the better choice when you mean having no body, and it sounds more philosophical.
Opposites
Word family
- material adjective
- important enough to affect a decision; or made of matter
- immaterial adjective
- unimportant, or not physical
- materiality noun
- the quality of being important to a decision
- materially adverb
- in a way that makes a real difference
Commonly confused: immateriality or immaturity?
immateriality vs immaturity
Immaturity means not being fully grown or developed, and has nothing to do with importance or physical substance.
Practice
In an audit report, which sentence correctly uses the idea of immateriality?
Choose one answer.
Immateriality here means the typo had no effect on the outcome. The other options use it with meanings of size, courage or force, which it does not have.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “immateriality”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.