Meaning & use
inanimate
Last updated
Meanings
adjectivenot comparable
Not alive, like a rock or a chair.
Grammar: Used before a noun: an inanimate object.
Patterns
- inanimate object
Children sometimes talk to inanimate toys.
A rock is an inanimate object.
The poem gives voice to inanimate things.
adjectiveafter a verbliterary
Showing no sign of life or movement, as if lifeless.
Grammar: Used about a person or animal who seems lifeless: he lay inanimate.
Patterns
- lie inanimate
The figure lay inanimate on the floor.
Her face stayed inanimate during the speech.
The robot stood inanimate until switched on.
adjectivebefore a nountechnical
In grammar, describing a noun for a thing instead of a living being.
Grammar: Used in linguistics: an inanimate noun.
Patterns
- inanimate noun
Some languages treat inanimate nouns differently from animate ones.
The word table is an inanimate noun.
Pronoun choice may depend on whether the noun is inanimate.
Common combinations
- inanimate object
- She spoke to the inanimate object as if it listened.
- inanimate matter
- Scientists study how life arose from inanimate matter.
- inanimate noun
- English pronouns for inanimate nouns are it and they.
- seem inanimate
- The statue seemed oddly inanimate.
- inanimate world
- Poets describe the inanimate world with feeling.
Synonyms and how they differ
- lifeless
- Lifeless can also describe something dull or empty, which inanimate does not usually do.
- inert
- Inert means lacking movement or reaction, often in a scientific context.
- nonliving
- Nonliving is the plain scientific term and sounds less literary.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: inanimate or inanimate?
inanimate vs inanimate
Do not confuse with 'unanimated'; inanimate is the normal word for non-living things.
Practice
Which of these is an inanimate object?
Choose one answer.
A chair is not alive. A cat, a tree and a spider are all living things.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “inanimate”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.