exanimate
Americanadjective
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inanimate or lifeless.
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spiritless; disheartened.
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of exanimate
1525–35; < Latin exanimātus (past participle of exanimāre to deprive of life), equivalent to ex- ex- 1 + anim ( a ) life, spirit + -ātus -ate 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It looked exanimate enough, with its idle wheel looming above the black stream dashed with yellow-white spume, and its cluster of sheds sagging under their white load.
From Ethan Frome by Wharton, Edith
The frozen lash was soon severed and the two exanimate bodies lifted in eager hands.
From The Promise A Tale of the Great Northwest by Hendryx, James B. (James Beardsley)
In the afternoon the mother and her eldest and youngest, supine and exanimate in the drawing-room, were surprised into expectancy by the sound of the front-door bell before three o'clock.
From Leonora by Bennett, Arnold
Silence on the bier, While I call God—call God!—so let thy mouth Be heir to those who are now exanimate.
From Sonnets from the Portuguese by Browning, Elizabeth Barrett
When Laura plays the piano, her adorer stands there, one moment an exanimate statue, the next a disembodied spirit,—while the listening zephyrs murmur more softly in reverence.
From The Life and Works of Friedrich Schiller by Thomas, Calvin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
