impalpability
Cannot be felt
Impalpability is the quality of being impossible to touch or feel physically—having no tangible substance.
The word extends naturally to things that resist being grasped mentally or emotionally: the impalpability of time, the impalpability of her grief.
Something with impalpability hovers just beyond reach, whether of fingertips or understanding.
Absence of physical form
- insubstantialityAbsence of physical substance
- incorporealityAbsence of physical form
- untouchabilityState beyond contact or criticism
- imperceptibilityQuality beyond sensory detection
formlessness · bodilessness · weightlessness · airiness · nebulousness · amorphousness · elusiveness · vagueness
Filmy, delicate material
- diaphanousDelicately translucent
- wispyThin and insubstantial
- airyLight and well-ventilated
- vaporousLike a gas, diffuse
misty · ghostly · spectral · phantasmal · shadowy · translucent · filmy · gauzy
Surpassing usual limits
- divinitySacred nature or nougat-like sweet
- soulInnermost animating essence
- spiritSoul, mood, or liquor
- enlightenmentProfound spiritual awakening
nirvana · sublime · sacredness · holiness · mysticism · numinous · ineffable · beatitude
Distilling to essential qualities
- ideaMental formation
- notionImprecise mental impression
- conceptAbstract mental construct
- theoryExplanatory set of principles
thought · principle · essence · metaphysics · epistemology · phenomenology · ideation · cognition
immateriality
Absence of physical form
- insubstantialityAbsence of physical substance
- incorporealityAbsence of physical form
- untouchabilityState beyond contact or criticism
imperceptibility · formlessness · bodilessness · weightlessness · airiness · nebulousness · amorphousness · elusiveness · vagueness · indefiniteness
gossamer
Filmy, delicate material
- diaphanousDelicately translucent
- wispyThin and insubstantial
- airyLight and well-ventilated
vaporous · misty · ghostly · spectral · phantasmal · shadowy · translucent · filmy · gauzy · tenuous
transcendence
Surpassing usual limits
- divinitySacred nature or nougat-like sweet
- soulInnermost animating essence
- spiritSoul, mood, or liquor
enlightenment · nirvana · sublime · sacredness · holiness · mysticism · numinous · ineffable · beatitude · grace
abstraction
Distilling to essential qualities
theory · thought · principle · essence · metaphysics · epistemology · phenomenology · ideation · cognition · understanding
impalpabilitypalpability
Capacity to be touched
tangibility · tactility · perceptibility · detectability · sensibility
impalpabilitysolidity
Firmness of structure
substantiality · corporeality · materiality · physicality · concreteness
impalpabilitytangibility
Quality of being touchable
concreteness · graspability · clarity · definiteness · obviousness
palpable, impalpable, palpitate, palpitation, palpably, palpate, palpation, palp, palpability