impersonal

/ɪmˈpʌrs(ə)n(ə)l/

/ɪmˈpʌsənəl/

If you're impersonal, you're neutral — you're not showing your feelings or your preference. If you choose people to be on your team by closing your eyes and pointing, that's impersonal — you're not picking your friends or the best players.

Impersonal can be good. An impersonal rejection is easier to take than one that specifies precisely why you, in particular, are a reject. But if your class is so impersonal, your teacher doesn't even know your name, that’s not good. A wedding that doesn't include details about the bride and groom would be impersonal and may be more like a business meeting than a celebration. Impersonal comes from the Latin roots in- or im-, "not," and personalis, "of a person."

Definitions of impersonal

1. adjective

   not relating to or responsive to individual persons
   “an impersonal corporation”

   “an impersonal remark”

   synonyms:

   nonpersonal

   lacking personality

   antonyms:

   personal

   concerning or affecting a particular person or his or her private life and personality

   ad hominem

   appealing to personal considerations (rather than to fact or reason)

   face-to-face

   in each other's presence

   individual, private

   concerning one person exclusively

   individualised, individualized, personalised, personalized

   made for or directed or adjusted to a particular individual

   in the flesh, in-person

   an appearance carried out personally in someone else's physical presence

   ain, own

   belonging to or on behalf of a specified person (especially yourself); preceded by a possessive

   personalized

   pointedly referring to or concerning a person's individual personality or intimate affairs especially offensively

   person-to-person

   involving direct communication or contact between persons or parties

   private

   concerning things deeply private and personal

   private

   confined to particular persons or groups or providing privacy
2. adjective

   having no personal preference
   “impersonal criticism”

   synonyms: neutral

   nonsubjective, objective

   undistorted by emotion or personal bias; based on observable phenomena