as in spiritual
not composed of matter
Newton's laws explain the effects of nonmaterial forces on bodies
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of nonmaterial
Put simply, superheated plasma was being tested as fuel, but the temperatures melted any sort of solid container, so the experiments used nonmaterial vessels formed from extremely powerful magnetic fields.
—
Werner Herzog,
The New Yorker,
21 Aug. 2023
The first part of the book is committed to a ground-clearing exercise, describing the various concepts of the nonmaterial soul that feature in many different religious belief systems.
—
Denis Alexander,
Washington Post,
17 Mar. 2023
Robert Kagan also emphasized the role of nonmaterial motives in U.S. foreign policy.
—
William A. Galston,
WSJ,
20 Sep. 2022
So people escaped into the nonmaterial world.
—
Keith Gessen,
Vogue,
19 May 2022
An example of a nonmaterial breach is a landlord thinking their tenant is not cleaning enough, but nothing has been damaged.
—
Randy Furst,
Star Tribune,
11 July 2021
So, for example, property may be capital, in the Marxist sense, but property values are dependent on things that are nonmaterial — that are ideological, or superstructural — like race.
—
Vinson Cunningham,
Los Angeles Times,
17 Mar. 2021
Werner Herzog,
The New Yorker,
21 Aug. 2023
The first part of the book is committed to a ground-clearing exercise, describing the various concepts of the nonmaterial soul that feature in many different religious belief systems.
—
Denis Alexander,
Washington Post,
17 Mar. 2023
Robert Kagan also emphasized the role of nonmaterial motives in U.S. foreign policy.
—
William A. Galston,
WSJ,
20 Sep. 2022
So people escaped into the nonmaterial world.
—
Keith Gessen,
Vogue,
19 May 2022
An example of a nonmaterial breach is a landlord thinking their tenant is not cleaning enough, but nothing has been damaged.
—
Randy Furst,
Star Tribune,
11 July 2021
So, for example, property may be capital, in the Marxist sense, but property values are dependent on things that are nonmaterial — that are ideological, or superstructural — like race.
—
Vinson Cunningham,
Los Angeles Times,
17 Mar. 2021
Recent Examples of Synonyms for nonmaterial
Adjective
-
India’s religious and spiritual economy was estimated at roughly $58 billion in 2025, and is projected to grow steadily over the next decade.
-
Amid a host of synthetic textures, the batá grounds the record in its spiritual reference; only the twins’ perspective changes.
Adjective
-
This spiritual, metaphysical, and downright weird show is ostensibly about a nun’s quest to find and destroy the Holy Grail, which will result in the deactivation of the powerful, pervasive AI that gives the series its name.
-
In both the real and metaphysical locations of the show, the backgrounds are all painted by hand, something which was pointed out took up a lot of time due to the number of paintings in the show and due to the number of montages.
Adjective
-
Followers of the Abrahamic religions are supposed to treat God as immaterial and incorporeal, yet these early Yahweh worshippers imagined him as fully embodied.
-
Positioned as a large-scale genre event, the series updates the legendary SFX property with a contemporary political and social edge, with Shun Oguri leading the cast as a detective hunting a seemingly incorporeal killer.
Adjective
-
The money, in Gupta’s view, is immaterial.
-
The fact that it was conceived without thought and for decades was produced and consumed without thought is immaterial.
Adjective
-
In Ayurveda, Prana, the life force carried by the breath, is understood to nourish both the mind and body and can be viewed as a nonphysical substance, finer than oxygen.
-
In accounting, intangible assets are nonphysical possessions including such things as brands and intellectual property, software, mineral rights ‒ and contracts.
Cite this Entry
“Nonmaterial.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/nonmaterial. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
