inanimate
Americanadjective
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not animate; lifeless.
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spiritless; sluggish; dull.
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Linguistics. belonging to a syntactic category or having a semantic feature that is characteristic of words denoting objects, concepts, and beings regarded as lacking perception and volition (opposed to animate).
adjective
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lacking the qualities or features of living beings; not animate
inanimate objects
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lacking any sign of life or consciousness; appearing dead
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lacking vitality; spiritless; dull
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of inanimate
From the Late Latin word inanimātus, dating back to 1555–65. See in- 3, animate
Explanation
Inanimate describes a non-living thing. Chairs, baseballs, sofa cushions and sadly, snowmen, are all inanimate objects. We can break inanimate down into two Latin roots: in, which means “not,” and animatus, which translates to “alive.” So inanimate means simply, "not alive." That include things that are recently dead, things that were never alive to begin with, and things that simply look dead: A bear in hibernation may appear inanimate due to its decreased heart rate, but don’t be fooled — it’s very much alive.
Vocabulary lists containing inanimate
Speak Your Mind: Anim
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Vocabulary to Describe Literary Devices
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "I"
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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.
“We’re just building the world, so you need some rules, otherwise all the inanimate objects can start talking,” Plaza says.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 20, 2026
Rice cakes join a long list of inanimate objects that time-poor young Chinese have jokingly adopted for low-maintenance companionship in recent years, ranging from mango pits, to rocks, to cardboard dogs.
From Barron's • Feb. 5, 2026
But Ms. Wilson, who was accustomed to working and reworking recipes until they were perfected, was intrigued by how and why an inanimate kitchen object could become so emotionally entwined with her very being.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 21, 2025
Tom Ogden wrote an indie-pop anthem about the incident, then dedicated their fifth album to the unfortunate inanimate ape.
From BBC • Nov. 17, 2024
In fact, that has been used for people as well as animals and inanimate things for some eight hundred years, and it’s standard English.
From "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner
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.
