incorporeal

English

Etymology

From Latin incorporeus +‎ -al.[1] By surface analysis, in- +‎ corporeal.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɪnkɔː(ɹ)ˈpɔːɹiəl/, /ɪŋkɔː(ɹ)ˈpɔːɹiəl/
    • Audio (Southern England):(file)
    • Audio (General American):(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɔːɹiəl

Adjective

incorporeal (comparative more incorporeal, superlative most incorporeal)

  1. Having no material form or physical substance.
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. [], London: [] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker []; [a]nd by Robert Boulter []; [a]nd Matthias Walker, [], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: [], London: Basil Montagu Pickering [], 1873, →OCLC:
      Thus incorporeal spirits to smaller forms / Reduced their shapes immense.
    • 1692, Richard Bentley, [A Confutation of Atheism] (please specify the sermon), London: [Thomas Parkhurst; Henry Mortlock], published 1692–1693:
      Sense and perception must necessarily proceed from some incorporeal substance within us.
  2. (law) Relating to an asset that does not have a material form; such as a patent.

Synonyms

Antonyms

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Translations

Noun

incorporeal (plural incorporeals)

  1. Something that is incorporeal.
    • 1628, Ow[en] Felltham, “Of Assimilation”, in Resolves or, Excogitations. A Second Centurie. (Resolves: A Duple Century []), London: [] [George Purslowe] for Henry Seile, [], →OCLC, page 195:
      The World is all viciſsitude and converſion. Nor is it onely true in Materials and Substances; but even in Spirits, in Incorporeals; []
    • 1793, Thomas Taylor, “The Timæus of Plato: A Dialogue on Nature”, in The Cratylus, Phædo, Parmenides and Timæus of Plato. [], London: [] Benjamin and John White, [], →OCLC, Introduction, page 395:
      The divine nature of the celeſtial bodies cannot be ſeen through the teleſcope, and incorporeals are not to be viewed with a microſcopic eye: []
    • 1875, John H. Smyth, “The right of homestead in lands held in common”, in The Law of Homestead and Exemptions, San Francisco, Calif.: Sumner Whitney & Co., →OCLC, Addenda, pages 413–414:
      Where the interest in a piece of land of one of six heirs to the deceased father’s estate was levied upon and it was claimed as a homestead, the Court said: “It is an incorporeal, and an incorporeal cannot be the object of the homestead act.”
    • 1880, Gaius, translated by James Muirhead, “[Commentarius Secundus]”, in The Institutes of Gaius and Rules of Ulpian. [], Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, [], →OCLC, “Gaii Institutionum Iuris Civilis Commentarii Quattuor”, § 28, page 82:
      It is manifest that incorporeals are incapable of transfer by delivery. But urban praedial rights may be ceded in court, and rural ones may also be mancipated.

References

  1. ^ incorporeal, adj. and n.”, in OED Online , Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

Anagrams