Adjacent Words

Inchoate definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

IN'CHOATE, v.t. [L. inchoo.] To begin. [Little used.]
IN'CHOATE, a. Begun; commenced.
It is neither a substance perfect, nor a substance inchoate.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: only partly in existence; imperfectly formed; "incipient civil disorder"; "an incipient tumor"; "a vague inchoate idea" [syn: incipient, inchoate]

Merriam Webster's

adjective Etymology: Latin inchoatus, past participle of inchoare to start work on, perhaps from in- + cohum part of a yoke to which the beam of a plow is fitted Date: 1534 being only partly in existence or operation ; incipient; especially imperfectly formed or formulated ; formless, incoherent <misty, inchoate suspicions that all is not well with the nation — J. M. Perry> • inchoately adverb • inchoateness noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. & v. --adj. 1 just begun. 2 undeveloped, rudimentary, unformed. --v.tr. begin; originate. Derivatives: inchoately adv. inchoateness n. inchoation n. inchoative adj. Etymology: L inchoatus past part. of inchoare (as IN-(2), choare begin)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Inchoate In"cho*ate, v. t. To begin. [Obs.] --Dr. H. More.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Inchoate In"cho*ate, a. [L. inchoatus, better incohatus, p. p. of incohare to begin.] Recently, or just, begun; beginning; partially but not fully in existence or operation; existing in its elements; incomplete. -- In"cho*ate*ly, adv. Neither a substance perfect, nor a substance inchoate. --Raleigh.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

If something is inchoate, it is recent or new, and vague or not yet properly developed. (FORMAL) His dreams were senseless and inchoate. = unformed ADJ

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. Beginning, commencing, incipient.

Moby Thesaurus

abecedarian, aboriginal, aimless, aleatoric, aleatory, amorphic, amorphous, anarchic, antenatal, autochthonous, baggy, beginning, blobby, blurred, blurry, broad, budding, capricious, casual, chance, chancy, chaotic, characterless, confused, creative, desultory, disarticulated, disconnected, discontinuous, disjointed, disjunct, disordered, disorderly, dispersed, disproportionate, elemental, elementary, embryonic, erratic, featureless, fetal, fitful, foggy, formative, formless, foundational, frivolous, fundamental, fuzzy, general, gestatory, gratuitous, haphazard, hazy, hit-or-miss, ill-defined, immethodical, imprecise, in embryo, in its infancy, in the bud, inaccurate, inaugural, inceptive, inchoative, incipient, incoherent, incunabular, indecisive, indefinable, indefinite, indeterminable, indeterminate, indiscriminate, indistinct, inexact, infant, infantile, inform, initial, initiative, initiatory, introductory, inventive, irregular, kaleidoscopic, kindred, lax, loose, lumpen, meaningless, misshapen, misty, nascent, natal, nondescript, nonspecific, nonsymmetrical, nonsystematic, nonuniform, obscure, orderless, original, parturient, planless, postnatal, pregnant, prenatal, primal, primary, prime, primeval, primitive, primogenial, procreative, promiscuous, random, rudimental, rudimentary, senseless, shadowed forth, shadowy, shapeless, spasmodic, sporadic, stochastic, straggling, straggly, sweeping, systemless, unarranged, unclassified, unclear, undefined, undestined, undetermined, undirected, ungraded, unjoined, unmethodical, unordered, unorganized, unplain, unsorted, unspecified, unsymmetrical, unsystematic, ununiform, ur, vague, veiled, wandering