intangibility

[ in-tan-juh-bil-i-tee ]

noun

1. the quality of not being tangible; inability to be perceived by the sense of touch:

   One debt cannot be measured, because of its intangibility—my debt to you all for your support of the project.

2. the quality of being unclear to the mind; vague or indefinite quality:

   Some writers stress the intangibility of the term “social movement” and seem almost happy to abandon any attempt to define it.

3. the quality of an asset that is not physical or financial, and often not measurable or transferable, but that contributes to the value of a business, such as reputation, patents, etc.:

   The intangibility of knowledge assets makes them difficult to license out to independent firms without loss of quality control.

Word History and Origins

Origin of intangibility¹

First recorded in 1840–50; intang(ible) ( def ) + -ibility ( def )

Example Sentences

Cutting our line of sight was an almost intangible curtain of fog, mist and light drizzle.

From Washington Post

Even Alex Smith, who excelled at the intangibles and the X’s and O’s battle before the snap, struggled mightily.

From Washington Post

It’s a lot harder to value a company based on intangibles than one with hard assets.

From Fortune

Journalists, fans and fellow athletes alike cannot help but marvel at greatness as something often intangible.

From Washington Post

Spontaneity is one of the many intangible casualties of the pandemic.

From Washington Post

It was the very subtlety and intangibility of "they" that made him uneasy, made him less sure of himself and his own ability.

From Project Gutenberg

The wonderment as to what lay beyond, the sense that it was a limit to known things, its savage intangibility, its sheer silence!

From Project Gutenberg

Whenever that look appeared in her wild, bright, deeply black eyes, it invested them with a strange remoteness and intangibility.

From Project Gutenberg

He could not tell what was behind that smile of hers—passionate aching or only some ideal, some chaste and glacial intangibility.

From Project Gutenberg

Strange net-work of classes in a democratic country, of distinctions the more galling for their intangibility.

From Project Gutenberg