| 释义 |
immaterialadj.n. Origin: Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from French. Partly a borrowing from Latin. Etymons: French immateriel; Latin immaterialis. Etymology: < (i) Middle French immateriel not material, not formed of matter (c1340; French immatériel ), and its etymon (ii) post-classical Latin immaterialis not material, not existing in or referring to material reality (4th cent.) < im- im- prefix2 + materialis material adj. Compare Italian immateriale (14th cent.).With the α. forms compare in- prefix3. A. adj. 1. the world > existence and causation > existence > materiality > immateriality > [adjective] c1450 ( J. Walton tr. Boethius (Linc. Cathedral 103) 309 (MED) For comyn wit ne may not vp atteyn; Þe þinges whiche ben inmateriall He may conseyue neuere adell at all [L. Neque enim sensus aliquid extra materiam ualet]. 1495 (de Worde) Prol. sig. Aij/2 Ye contemplacyon of the heuenly Ierarchyes immaterielles. 1527 L. Andrewe tr. H. Brunschwig sig. Aj That the corruptyble shall be made incorruptible, and to make the materyall inmateryall. 1570 H. Billingsley tr. Euclid i. f. 1 Number is more simple and pure then is magnitude, and also immateriall. 1641 J. Wilkins xix. 147 That strange immateriall powers [sic] of the loadstone. 1662 E. Stillingfleet iii. i. §17 If there be then such things in the World which matter and motion cannot be the causes of then there are certainly spiritual and immaterial Beings. 1717 T. Wise p. xxx The Christian Sacrifice emphatically asserted by St. Barnabas..to be Rational, Spiritual, Immaterial, Incorporeal, &c. 1749 D. Hartley ii. i. 31 If God be not an immaterial Being, then Matter may be the Cause of all the Motions in the Material World. 1830 C. Lyell I. 76 Demons, ghosts, witches, and other immaterial and supernatural agents. 1883 H. Sidgwick i. iii. 71 The wealth of any individual is considered to include all useful things—whether material things, as food, clothes, houses, &c., or immaterial things as debts, patents, copyrights, &c. 1904 J. McCabe tr. E. Haeckel xix. 464 They [sc. psychic forces] are not immaterial forces, but based on the general sensation of substance, which we call psychoma. 1967 (Amer. Inst. Real Estate Appraisers) (ed. 5) 67 Economic good, any good, either material or immaterial, which is external to man and which is useful, obtainable, and relatively scarce. 2003 J. Haldane vii. 196 We may reason that whatever is capable of engaging immaterial objects must itself be an immaterial power. the world > matter > constitution of matter > weakness > [adjective] 1609 W. Shakespeare v. i. 28 Thou idle immaterial skeine of sleiue silke. View more context for this quotation 1807 T. Young I. xxxix. 458 If we allow such suppositions as Boscovich's, that matter itself is penetrable, that is, immaterial. 1900 S. J. Weyman (new ed.) i. 8 All the threats and misgivings, the fevers and agues, of that afternoon,..became in a few hours as immaterial as the dew. 1989 M. Hudson (1990) vii. 121 Finally I emerged onto the hard grey sand, beyond which the mangroves shimmered, immaterial, almost ghostly in the haze of heat. the world > relative properties > relationship > relevance or pertinence > [adjective] > irrelevant 1598 J. Dickenson 62 Had I intituled this discourse, A looking Glasse, the Metaphor had not been wholly immateriall. 1632 W. Lithgow x. 488 Your absurd pretence: Your immateriall proofes. 1674 P. Walsh iv. 46 Sorbonists..have not thought it immaterial or impertinent to give this 4th Proposition subscribed by themselves to their own King. 1769 7 Your Lordships must perceive how easy it was to replace them [sc. trees]; but whether replaceable or not, appears to the defenders to be a very immaterial fact. ?1784 E. Pendleton (1967) II. 471 If the deponent shall be thought..to have related things immaterial to the present dispute, the Court will be pleased to impute it to his not being interrogated in behalf of the defendants. 1815 J. Dodson 1 31 Some circumstances stated on behalf of Captain Honeyman, which I may also throw out as immaterial. 1852 E. D. Mansfield ix. 130 (note) We deem it immaterial to the purpose of this history, who made an abstract suggestion of that charge. 1902 1 Nov. 1452/2 It has previously been held..that the question of legal qualification and registrations was practically immaterial to the question. 1957 2nd Ser. 314 587/1 Mr. Davis: Objection, Your Honor, incompetent, irrelevant, and immaterial. 2012 (Nexis) 26 July The arbitrator determined that the evidence was immaterial and should be excluded. the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [adjective] > unessential 1698 J. Fryer 77 After some immaterial Discourse they returned to their Tents. 1749 D. Hartley ii. ii. 155 Small immaterial Variations excepted. 1776 L. Washington Let. 7 Mar. in G. Washington (1988) Revolutionary War Ser. III. 431 It is immaterial what shape a waggon Horse is of. 1803 W. Tennant II. 213 The substance..is only employed..for coarse purposes, where colour and appearances are totally immaterial. 1861 1 Aug. 10 The damage done was immaterial to the plates themselves. 1911 7 94 It is therefore immaterial..whether we fix our attention on the internal pressure or on the thermal pressure. 1973 29 Nov. (Suppl.) 9 (advt.) Wanted for a retained client. A period residence... Price is immaterial. 2008 No. 79. 128/3 Rock'n'roll needed something to rebel against. Whether that was..a disastrous war in Vietnam or the record industry itself was immaterial. B. n.the world > existence and causation > existence > materiality > immateriality > [noun] > immaterial or incorporeal thing > immaterial things 1608 G. Hakewill xxi. 98 The increase of knowledge, vniversals, immaterials, and the inward parts of things. 1653 Duchess of Newcastle App. i. iii. 240 In truth, an Immaterial is no Object, because no Body. a1682 Sir T. Browne (1716) iii. 100 Lodge immaterials in thy Head: ascend unto invisibles. 1730 W. Harte 32 As well might Nothing bind Immensity, Or passive Matter Immaterials see. 1773 J. Robertson (rev. ed.) 134 With senses diff'ring from mankind..Immaterials—free To range Creation's boundary. 1822 Feb. 144 We trust that some future metaphysician..will..establish our knowlege of the materials or immaterials of perception, beyond all suspicion of uncertainty. 1894 24 Nov. 6/3 How can matter be produced by the union of two immaterials, or if one atom cannot be matter how does a combination of two affect their component parts? a1910 ‘M. Twain’ (1917) 107 These men's inborn temperaments have remained unchanged through all the vicissitudes of their material affairs. Let us see how it is with their immaterials. 1972 J. C. Doig iii. vi. 261 The metaphysician realises that one thing he can know about the ‘that which is’ of an immaterial thing is that an immaterial is a ‘that which is’. 1990 D. Leder v. 129 We not only misconstrue the nature of material objects but tend to disbelieve in the existence of immaterials. 1612 J. Cotta Introd. 2 Neither is there a like consideration of the externall and internall, the positiue, the priuatiue, the materiall, the immateriall, [etc.]. 1650 R. Gentilis tr. V. Malvezzi 216 The distance which is between the materiall and the immateriall, takes away the proportion. 1841 R. Johns II. xv. 253 The sympathy existing between the immaterial and the material, in human nature, gives tone and energy to the body. 1858 Apr. 263 They [sc. metaphysics] are regarded as the science of immaterial, or the genus under which all the non-material sciences range as species. 1906 M. M. Bigelow 41 Generalization may be defined as the arrangement of facts in orderly relation, by the rejection of the immaterial. 1921 June 298 The vision of the supersensual and immaterial, the ideals and motives which lift men above the brutes, [etc.]. 1995 Nov. 13/2 One of the most difficult tasks is knowing where to stop. Another is separating the relevant from the immaterial. Derivatives 1674 P. Walsh iv. 46 The immaterialness and impertinency of their subscription. 1814 H. H. Norris (ed. 2) 69 (note) This ‘comparative immaterialness’ of the priesthood, palmed as it now is upon the Church of England,..is no other than the conceit of those who have separated from it. 1901 Apr. 1048 The materialness of love is hidden by the immaterialness of the sentiment; the body of the god is screened behind his soul. 2006 G. King 376 All faces were dim in this atmosphere of solemn expectation; they had taken on something of the immaterialness of the frescoed saints. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022). <  adj.n.c1450 |
