intangibility

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

noun

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.
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.

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.

Origin of intangibility

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

Cutting our line of sight was an almost intangible curtain of fog, mist and light drizzle.
Washington was plunged into obscurity by Tuesday’s fog | Martin Weil | January 27, 2021 | Washington Post
Even Alex Smith, who excelled at the intangibles and the X’s and O’s battle before the snap, struggled mightily.
Does Matthew Stafford make sense for Washington? Here’s how the QB would fit. | Sam Fortier | January 26, 2021 | Washington Post
It’s a lot harder to value a company based on intangibles than one with hard assets.
We are all tech companies now | Alan Murray | January 25, 2021 | Fortune
Journalists, fans and fellow athletes alike cannot help but marvel at greatness as something often intangible.
Dissecting athletic greatness: Nature, nurture, lucky breaks and a ‘quiet eye’ | Liz Robbins | December 11, 2020 | Washington Post
Spontaneity is one of the many intangible casualties of the pandemic.
You have until Nov. 22 to visit these six Smithsonian museums. Here’s what to expect. | Kelsey Ables | November 19, 2020 | 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.
Still Jim | Honor Willsie Morrow
The wonderment as to what lay beyond, the sense that it was a limit to known things, its savage intangibility, its sheer silence!
First and Last | H. Belloc
Whenever that look appeared in her wild, bright, deeply black eyes, it invested them with a strange remoteness and intangibility.
An English Grammar | W. M. Baskervill and J. W. Sewell
He could not tell what was behind that smile of hers—passionate aching or only some ideal, some chaste and glacial intangibility.
The Island Pharisees | John Galsworthy
Strange net-work of classes in a democratic country, of distinctions the more galling for their intangibility.
The Ordeal of Elizabeth | Elizabeth Von Arnim

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