Inherited fromMiddle Englishinanimat(e), fromLate Latininanimātus, fromLatinin- +animātus(“animated”), see-ate(adjective-forming suffix). Bysurface analysis,in- +animate. Thenoun was derived bysubstantivization from theadjective, see-ate(noun-forming suffix).
inanimate (comparativemoreinanimate,superlativemostinanimate)
- Lacking thequality orability ofmotion; asan inanimate object.
- Synonyms:immobile,motionless;see alsoThesaurus:immobile,Thesaurus:stationary
1834,L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XV, inFrancesca Carrara. […], volume II, London:Richard Bentley, […], (successor toHenry Colburn),→OCLC,page172:The love of theinanimate is a general feeling. True, it makes no return of affection, neither does it disappoint it; its associations are from our thoughts and emotions.
- Not being, and never having been alive, especially not likehumans andanimals.
- Synonyms:non-animate,lifeless,insentient,insensate
1818, Mary Shelley, chapter 5, inFrankenstein[1], archived fromthe original on31 October 2011:I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into aninanimate body.
- (grammar) Notanimate.
- Antonym:animate
Translations to be checked
inanimate (pluralinanimates)
- (rare) Something that is not alive.
Borrowed fromLatininanimātus, theperfectpassiveparticiple ofinanimō(“to animate”) (see-ate(verb-forming suffix)), fromin-(“in, into”) +animō(“to animate”); bysurface analysis,in- +animate.
inanimate (third-person singular simple presentinanimates,present participleinanimating,simple past and past participleinanimated)
- (obsolete) Toanimate.
1621,John Donne,An Anatomy of the World: The First Anniversary:For there's a kind of world remaining still, Though shee which didinanimate and fill
inanimate f pl
- feminineplural ofinanimato
inanimāte
- vocativemasculinesingular ofinanimātus
