Adjacent Words

Inept definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

INEPT', a. [L. ineptus; in and aptus, fit, apt.]
1. Not apt or fit; unfit; unsuitable.
2. Improper; unbecoming; foolish.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: not elegant or graceful in expression; "an awkward prose style"; "a clumsy apology"; "his cumbersome writing style"; "if the rumor is true, can anything be more inept than to repeat it now?" [syn: awkward, clumsy, cumbersome, inapt, inept, ill-chosen]
2: generally incompetent and ineffectual; "feckless attempts to repair the plumbing"; "inept handling of the account" [syn: feckless, inept]
3: revealing lack of perceptiveness or judgment or finesse; "an inept remark"; "it was tactless to bring up those disagreeable" [syn: inept, tactless]

Merriam Webster's

adjective Etymology: Middle French inepte, from Latin ineptus, from in- + aptus apt Date: 1542 1. lacking in fitness or aptitude ; unfit <inept at sports> 2. lacking sense or reason ; foolish 3. not suitable to the time, place, or occasion ; inappropriate often to an absurd degree <an inept metaphor> 4. generally incompetent ; bungling <inept leadership> Synonyms: see awkward • ineptly adverb • ineptness noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 unskilful. 2 absurd, silly. 3 out of place. Derivatives: ineptitude n. ineptly adv. ineptness n. Etymology: L ineptus (as IN-(1), APT)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Inept In*ept", a. [L. ineptus; prefix. in- not + aptus apt, fit: cf. F. inepte. Cf. Inapt.] 1. Not apt or fit; unfit; unsuitable; improper; unbecoming. The Aristotelian philosophy is inept for new discoveries. --Glanvill. 2. Silly; useless; nonsensical; absurd; foolish. To view attention as a special act of intelligence, and to distinguish it from consciousness, is utterly inept. --Sir W. Hamilton.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

If you say that someone is inept, you are criticizing them because they do something with a complete lack of skill. He was inept and lacked the intelligence to govern... ? skilful ADJ [disapproval]

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Improper, unfit, unsuitable, inappropriate, inapposite, unapt. 2. Useless, worthless, void, null. 3. Foolish, silly, nonsensical, senseless, stupid, pointless.

Moby Thesaurus

apish, artless, asinine, awkward, bad, batty, befooled, beguiled, besotted, brainless, buffoonish, bumbling, bungling, clumsy, cockeyed, crazy, credulous, daffy, daft, dazed, dizzy, doting, dumb, fatuitous, fatuous, flaky, fond, fool, foolheaded, foolish, fuddled, futile, gaga, gauche, goofy, graceless, gulled, half-assed, halting, ham-handed, headless, idiotic, ignorant, ill-adapted, ill-advised, ill-assorted, ill-chosen, ill-considered, ill-fitted, ill-judged, ill-matched, ill-sorted, ill-suited, ill-timed, imbecile, impolitic, improper, imprudent, inadept, inadmissible, inadvisable, inane, inapplicable, inapposite, inappropriate, inapt, inattentive, incapable, incapable of, incompetent, incongruous, indiscreet, ineffective, inefficient, inexpedient, inexpert, infatuated, infelicitous, inferior, injudicious, inopportune, insane, insensate, irrational, irrelevant, kooky, lackbrained, lean-minded, lean-witted, loony, lumbering, mad, mal a propos, maladjusted, maladroit, malapropos, maudlin, mediocre, mindless, misguided, misjoined, mismatched, mismated, misplaced, moronic, not bright, nutty, of little brain, out of character, out of joint, out of keeping, out of line, out of place, out of proportion, out of season, out of time, out of tune, pea-brained, pedestrian, pin-brained, poor, reasonless, sappy, screwy, senseless, sentimental, silly, skill-less, slackminded, slackwitted, stupid, thoughtless, unable, unable to, unadapted, unadvised, unapt, unbecoming, unbefitting, undeft, undesirable, undexterous, undextrous, undiplomatic, undue, unendowed, unfacile, unfit, unfitted, unfitting, unfortunate, ungainly, ungifted, unhandy, unhappy, unintellectual, unintelligent, unmeet, unproficient, unprofitable, unqualified, unreasoning, unseasonable, unseemly, unskilled, unskillful, unsuitable, unsuited, untalented, unthinking, untimely, unwise, unworkmanlike, wacky, wet, witless, wooden, wrong