immaterial
Not physically present
Immaterial means not relevant or not important to the matter at hand: Whether he intended harm is immaterial—the damage is done.
The word also means lacking physical substance, existing only as spirit or idea: Descartes argued the mind is immaterial.
The legal sense dominates everyday usage; the philosophical sense appears mainly in formal contexts.
Delicate beyond earthly measure
- ghostlyResembling a specter
- spectralGhostlike or wavelength-related
- phantasmalLike an apparition
- incorporealNot made of matter
disembodied · bodiless · intangible · formless · shapeless · substanceless · nonphysical · wraithlike
Lacking significance or impact
- negligibleToo small to consider
- unimportantLacking significance or weight
- insignificantLacking importance or consequence
- trivialLacking significance or weight
beside the point · neither here nor there · of no consequence · extraneous · peripheral · secondary · incidental · moot
Of or relating to ideas
- theoreticalBased on hypothesis, untested
- notionalConceptual, not concrete
- ideationalRelating to forming concepts
- philosophicalConcerned with fundamental truths
intellectual · mental · cognitive · nonphysical · intangible · nonempirical · hypothetical · speculative
Innermost animating essence
- spiritSoul, mood, or liquor
- divineOf or from gods
- transcendentExceeding usual boundaries
- sacredWorthy of reverence
metaphysical · otherworldly · supernatural · mystical · karmic · afterlife · enlightenment · nirvana
ethereal
Delicate beyond earthly measure
- ghostlyResembling a specter
- spectralGhostlike or wavelength-related
- phantasmalLike an apparition
incorporeal · disembodied · bodiless · intangible · formless · shapeless · substanceless · nonphysical · wraithlike · apparitional
inconsequential
Lacking significance or impact
- negligibleToo small to consider
- unimportantLacking significance or weight
- insignificantLacking importance or consequence
trivial · beside the point · neither here nor there · of no consequence · extraneous · peripheral · secondary · incidental · moot · inapplicable
conceptual
Of or relating to ideas
- theoreticalBased on hypothesis, untested
- notionalConceptual, not concrete
- ideationalRelating to forming concepts
philosophical · intellectual · mental · cognitive · nonphysical · intangible · nonempirical · hypothetical · speculative · ideological
soul
Innermost animating essence
- spiritSoul, mood, or liquor
- divineOf or from gods
- transcendentExceeding usual boundaries
sacred · metaphysical · otherworldly · supernatural · mystical · karmic · afterlife · enlightenment · nirvana · heavenly
flimsy
Weak and easily damaged
diaphanous · airy · delicate · filmy · gauzy · sheer · translucent · vaporous · nebulous · featherlight
- Insignificant thingstrivial, minor, small, tiny, negligible
- states of beingalive, dead, living, existing, conscious
- nonessentialunnecessary, unneeded, nonessential, inessential, dispensable
- smallnesssmall, little, tiny, mini, miniature
- psychepsyche, soul, mind, ego, id
- etherether, aether, ethereal, quintessence, fifth element