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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

inanimate.

Lacking the quality or ability of motion; as an inanimate object.

9 characters4 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ɪnˈænɪmət/Received-Pronunciation
  1. Lacking the quality or ability of motion; as an inanimate object.

  2. Not alive, and never having been alive, especially not like humans and animals.

  3. Not animate.

Where this word comes from

Inherited from Middle English inanimat(e), from Late Latin inanimātus, from Latin in- + animātus (“animated”), see -ate (adjective-forming suffix). By surface analysis, in- + animate. The noun was derived by substantivization from the adjective, see -ate (noun-forming suffix).

noun/ɪnˈænɪmət/Received-Pronunciation
  1. Something that is not alive.

    rare
Where this word comes from

Inherited from Middle English inanimat(e), from Late Latin inanimātus, from Latin in- + animātus (“animated”), see -ate (adjective-forming suffix). By surface analysis, in- + animate. The noun was derived by substantivization from the adjective, see -ate (noun-forming suffix).

verb/ɪnˈænɪmeɪt/
  1. To animate.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

Borrowed from Latin inanimātus, the perfect passive participle of inanimō (“to animate”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from in- (“in, into”) + animō (“to animate”); by surface analysis, in- + animate.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.