What does incorporeal mean?
Incorporeal means without a physical body, material substance, or bodily existence. The word is most often used in philosophy, theology, law, and speculative writing to describe spirits, abstract principles, or other entities that cannot be perceived or handled as physical objects. It may also characterize existence or reality as lacking material form. Incorporeal is a formal term and conveys an abstract or metaphysical quality rather than merely saying that something is “light” or difficult to touch. Its principal contrast is with corporeal, which means having a physical body or material existence. The related word immaterial can be broader, applying to things such as abstract rights, while incorporeal more specifically suggests the absence of embodiment. Together with its direct antonym, the word preserves the Latin idea of a body through the contrast between what is embodied and what exists without a body.
adjectiveNot having a physical body or material existence; immaterial.
- Lacking a physical body or material existence; immaterial and nonphysical.
"The philosopher considered the soul to be an incorporeal entity."
"The account describes the apparition as an incorporeal presence moving through the empty hall."
"In some philosophical systems, universal laws are treated as incorporeal entities."
Incorporeal is corporeal with a decisive prefix: it names what exists without a body.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does incorporeal come from?
Incorporeal comes through English from the Latin adjective incorporeus, meaning “not embodied” or “immaterial.” It was formed from the negative prefix in- and corpus, meaning “body,” with the adjectival suffix -ous. The same Latin root also underlies words such as corporal, corporeal, corpse, and corpus, although these developed through different grammatical and semantic paths.
Related word forms
How incorporeal is actually used
This is a formal and philosophical term. It is especially common in discussions of religion, metaphysics, law, and the status of abstract entities, and is less typical in everyday speech.
Easily confused with incorporeal
Incorporeal means immaterial or without a physical body, whereas incorporate means to include or unite something as part of a larger whole.
Corporeal describes something that has a physical body or material existence, meaning essentially the opposite of incorporeal.