Intangible means something you cannot touch or hold in your hands, even though it exists and matters. Love is intangible. You can't pick it up or put it in your pocket, but it's real and powerful. Friendship, courage, and ideas are all intangible too.

The opposite of intangible is tangible, which describes things you can physically touch: a baseball, a sandwich, or a book. But intangible things often turn out to be more valuable than tangible ones. A family's happiness is intangible, yet most people would choose it over any physical possession.

In business, intangible assets include things like a company's reputation, its patents and trademarks, or the skills of its workers. You can't touch these things, but they're often worth more than the company's buildings or equipment. A restaurant's secret recipe might be intangible, but it could be the most valuable thing the restaurant owns.

When something seems hard to describe or pin down, you might call it intangible. The feeling you get when you watch a beautiful sunset is intangible. The exact quality that makes one story captivating and another boring can feel intangible, even though you know it when you experience it.