non-fungible
Americanadjective
Explanation
In economics, when something is non-fungible, it can't be broken into units and interchanged for something else of the same value. Unlike money, things like antiques, cars, houses, and artwork are non-fungible. Non-fungible is frequently used in the term non-fungible token, or NFT, a kind of cryptocurrency. The difference between these and other digital payments is their uniqueness — they can't be substituted. Money is fungible because you can exchange a $20 bill for four fives. A car, however, is non-fungible: you can't borrow your friend's Honda and return a different Honda of the same value. Fungible is from the Latin fungi vice, "to take the place of."
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.
Where pre-stagflation, Americans held 55% of their assets in non-tangible forms, and 45% in tangible, that ratio reversed after 1971, because tangible assets kept pace with inflation better.
From Forbes • Jul. 14, 2014
It has much to do with people getting in touch with the non-tangible world, the spirit world if you like.
From BBC • Nov. 17, 2012
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.
