What does immaterial mean?
Immaterial means unimportant, insignificant, or irrelevant to a particular matter. It is especially common in formal and legal writing, where a distinction may be described as immaterial when it has no bearing on the decision or outcome. The word can also be used in a more specialized philosophical sense to describe something that is not made of matter, such as an idea, spirit, or soul. In everyday use, immaterial often suggests that something is trivial or too small to affect the result, but the context determines whether the emphasis is on practical relevance or on nonphysical existence. The word is related to material and its derivatives, but its negative prefix reverses the basic idea of materiality.
adjectiveNot important or significant; lacking importance or relevance. In philosophical contexts, it can also mean not consisting of matter or having no physical existence.
- Unimportant, insignificant, or lacking practical relevance.
- Not consisting of matter; not having a physical or material existence.
"The differences between the two drafts were immaterial to the final decision."
"The color of the envelope was immaterial to the contents of the letter."
"Many religious traditions regard the soul as immaterial, existing beyond the physical body."
What seems trivial today can become tomorrow’s most important issue: context has a habit of changing what is immaterial.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does immaterial come from?
Immaterial derives from Latin immaterialis, formed from the prefix im- meaning 'not' and materialis, meaning 'consisting of matter.' The word entered English during the early modern period, initially in contexts concerned with what exists independently of physical matter. Its later figurative sense, meaning 'unimportant,' developed from the idea of something having no material bearing or consequence.
Related word forms
How immaterial is actually used
Commonly used in formal and legal contexts, especially in the expression immaterial to. Its second, philosophical sense is more specialized and should be clearly distinguished from the everyday sense of unimportance.