Word
immaterial
Phoneticsim·ma·te·ri·al
US/ˌɪməˈtɪɹiəɫ/
UK/ˌɪmətˈiəɹɪəl/
Definition
adj. not important or not relevant to the situation. In law, it means something that does not affect the final decision or result.
adj. not relevant or significant to the matter at hand. In a legal context, it refers to evidence or facts that do not influence the outcome of a case.
Examples
“The color of the car is immaterial to the accident.”
“The judge ruled that the witness's personal history was immaterial to the current trial.”
“While the defendant's previous convictions were noted in the record, they were deemed immaterial to the specific charges of negligence being considered by the jury.”
Examples
simple
“The color of the car is immaterial to the accident.”
contextual
“The judge ruled that the witness's personal history was immaterial to the current trial.”
complex
“While the defendant's previous convictions were noted in the record, they were deemed immaterial to the specific charges of negligence being considered by the jury.”
Real-World Examples
“Walmart did not admit liability, and in a regulatory filing said it settled for an “immaterial” amount.” “You have also cancelled my train coming back but that is immaterial.” Etymology
The adjective is derived from Late Middle English immaterial, inmateriall (“incorporeal; spiritual”), from Middle French immateriel (“not material”) (modern French immatériel), and from its etymon Medieval Latin immāteriālis (“not material”), from Latin im- (a variant of in- (prefix meaning ‘not’)) + māteriālis (“made of matter, material”) (from māteria (“matter, substance, material”) (from māter, from Proto-Indo-European *méh₂tēr, + ia) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives of relationship)). The English word is analysable as im- + material. The noun is derived from the adjective.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Domain
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/immaterial