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intangible

intangible

22 7.2
Something that cannot be touched and is often a feeling or quality
  • adjective
  • /ɪnˈtæn.dʒə.bəl/
translation icon : intangible
  • Except I would argue that because a lot of the value they create is intangible, customer facing staff are underpaid and undervalued.
  • intangible benefits
  • intangible costs
  • intangible resources

And everything else seems kind of intangible and unsatisfying.

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Examples

  • Still others, such as cultural values, provide intangible experiences that are not captured well in current valuation approaches.

    Academic text (2012)
  • In the world of the street-oriented, respect becomes a form of currency, an intangible form of social wealth.

    Academic text (2013)
  • It's all the intangible things that just make you, you.

  • I think it was more of an intangible quality.

  • You have this intangible quality.

  • Leadership is, uh, intangible... and it's hard to measure, difficult to describe.

  • You're able to treat these intangible things as being effectively present and real.

  • Less well known are the inevitable and often intangible relations of power and prestige.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • Storytelling and storytelling makes those intangible things feel tangible and people join the story.

  • The love and support of friends can be an intangible source of strength during tough times.

Synonyms

immaterial
vsintangible
4 7.4

Not physical and cannot be touched

focuses on being hard to touch or measure rather than just lacking matter
incorporeal
vsintangible
2 9.9

Not having a physical body or shape that you can touch

emphasizes difficulty to touch, measure, or define rather than bodylessness
nonphysical
vsintangible
1 7.0

Not having a body you can touch or see

is harder to define and grasp rather than just lacking physical substance
nonmaterial
vsintangible
1 7.7

Has no physical form and is about ideas or feelings

highlights being hard to grasp or measure, not only absence of matter
impalpable
vsintangible
1 9.3

Hard to feel or notice with your senses

is more about being difficult to define or measure rather than only unfelt
unphysical
vsintangible
9.1

About the mind or spirit rather than the body

focuses on lacking physical presence without implying spiritual meaning

Antonyms

101 4.6

Real and able to be touched or clearly felt

Compounds

intangible asset
  • Specialized
1 6.8

A valuable thing you cannot touch, like a brand name or patent

How Tangible

tangible
1 3.9
concrete
206 3.9
intangible
22 7.2
ethereal
  • Literature
22 8.8

Surface Forms

intangible positive

Morphology

intangible = tangible (semi-transparent) = in + tang + ible

The adjective is a straightforward negation of 'tangible', so a learner who knows 'tangible' can readily infer 'not tangible'.

Etymology

Intangible is made from the prefix in- meaning 'not' and a part that means 'to touch', the same idea you see in tangible and the common word touch. So intangible means 'not touchable' and is used for things you cannot touch or easily measure, like a feeling or a brand's value.