incorporeal

2 9.9

Not having a physical body or shape that you can touch

adjective
/ɪnˈkɔːrpəriəl/

: incorpóreo

In this schema, the Spirit is regarded as an eternally invisible and incorporeal force superior to the earthly realm, which is mired in contingency and change.
incorporeal substance
incorporeal force

You also have to study the incorporeal and to you know, because it's incorporeal, invisible world as well.

Examples

The people on the stage are like paper silhouettes, somehow incorporeal and full of delicate spirituality.

Fiction book (1993)
A world whose creatures are incorporeal is a world devoid of sex and death.
If this was really a disease, it was a mighty incorporeal one, with virtually no physical aspects at all.

Fiction book (1995)
A world whose creatures are incorporeal is a world devoid of sex and death.

Academic text (2000)
Rather, ornament had a more subtle, mobile, even incorporeal meaning.

Academic text (1998)
As the intellect's activity, thinking is likewise incorporeal or immaterial.

Academic text (2017)
The Orthodox believe the angels to be incorporeal beings, created by God before the actual creation.
The people on the stage are like paper silhouettes, somehow incorporeal and full of delicate spirituality.

Synonyms

intangible

vsincorporeal

22 7.2

Something that cannot be touched and is often a feeling or quality

refers more to lack of an actual body rather than being merely hard to define

disembodied

vsincorporeal

15 8.0

Seeming to exist without a body, like a voice or spirit

is broader, applying to any absence of physical body beyond those specific cases

immaterial

vsincorporeal

4 7.4

Not physical and cannot be touched

adds that absence of body also carries the sense of being hard to grasp

nonphysical

vsincorporeal

1 7.0

Not having a body you can touch or see

speaks specifically about absence of a material body rather than measurability

bodiless

vsincorporeal

1 8.1

Not having a physical form, like a spirit or ghost

highlights that absence of body also includes being hard to perceive

noncorporeal

vsincorporeal

1 9.8

Without a physical body or shape

places more focus on absence of body rather than on other abstract qualities

nonmaterial

vsincorporeal

1 7.7

Has no physical form and is about ideas or feelings

focuses more narrowly on lacking a physical body or bodily form

unbodied

vsincorporeal

Archaic

9.9

Not having a physical form like a ghost or spirit

adds that absence of body also means lacking material substance or touchability

unembodied

vsincorporeal

9.9

Not having a physical body, like a ghost

is used broadly to include things lacking matter or being hard to touch

unphysical

vsincorporeal

9.1

About the mind or spirit rather than the body

means lacking a physical body or material form rather than merely not related

discorporate

vsincorporeal

Literature

9.9

A being that has no physical body like a ghost

is general absence of body without implying anything about incarnation status

Antonyms

corporeal

Formal

15 8.4

Relating to the physical body rather than the spirit

material

2 3.5

Relating to physical things or possessions, not spiritual

How Physical

incarnate

Formal

22 7.8

embodied

5.5

corporate

Archaic

2 9.9

corporeal

Formal

15 8.4

incorporeal

2 9.9

Surface Forms

incorporeal positive

Morphology

incorporeal = corporeal (transparent) = in + corporeal

This is a standard negative-prefix formation meaning 'not corporeal', so the sense is directly predictable if the learner knows 'corporeal'.

Etymology

The word incorporeal comes from Latin parts in- meaning 'not' and corpus meaning 'body', and you can see the same root in corpse meaning 'a dead body'. So something incorporeal is 'not a body' and has no physical form, like a ghost or an idea.