Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Inanimate / Insensate: Lacking consciousness, sensation, or the ability to feel. Used to describe objects or entities that are not alive and therefore cannot perceive or experience feelings.
   • Unfeeling / Numb: In a figurative sense, describing a state where a person seems devoid of emotion or physical sensation, as if inanimate.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Đá là vật chất vô giác. (Stone is an inanimate substance.)
  • Sau cú sốc, anh ta ngồi im như một khúc gỗ vô giác. (After the shock, he sat still like an insensate log.)
  • Cánh tay tôi bị tê, cảm thấy vô giác. (My arm went numb and felt lifeless.)

Advanced Usage

• The term is often used in philosophical or poetic contexts to contrast living, sentient beings with non-living matter.
• It can be used metaphorically to criticize a person's lack of empathy or emotional response.
  • Trái tim vô giác không biết đến yêu thương. (An unfeeling heart knows no love.)

Variants and Related Words

• Vô tri vô giác (idiomatic phrase): Completely insensate and unconscious; often used together for emphasis to mean utterly lifeless and without perception.
  • Cỗ máy đó dù tinh xảo vẫn chỉ là vật vô tri vô giác. (That machine, however sophisticated, is still just an insensate object.)

Synonyms

• Inanimate: Not alive.
• Insensate: Lacking physical sensation or consciousness.
• Numb: Deprived of the power of sensation.

Related Idioms

• Vô tri vô giác: (See "Variants and Related Words"). This is the most common idiomatic pairing for this word.