Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. One that lacks sense or substance: interrupting with inane comments; angry with my inane roommate.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Empty; void; especially, void of sense or intelligence; senseless; silly.
- Synonyms Frivolous, puerile, trifling.
- n. That which is void or empty; void space; emptiness; vacuity.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Without contents; empty; void of sense or intelligence; purposeless; pointless; characterless; useless.
- n. That which is void or empty.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. devoid of intelligence
Etymologies
- Latin inānis, empty, lacking sense.
Examples
“* Cast a spell on weathercasters that engage in inane behavior resulting in hilarious, viral TV bloopers.”
The Washington Post: Weather sorcery: If I could control the weather...
“Everyone seems to spend a lot of time in inane conversation.”
Tokyopop Chibis: Maria Holic, Samurai Harem, Zone-00, Momogumi Plus Senki » Manga Worth Reading
“He inserts himself into the narrative and indulges in inane asides.”
Strength in What Remains: Summary and book reviews of Strength in What Remains by Tracy Kidder.
“I'm willing to submit to the vision - his use of color and inane is definitely memorable, and might bring about some good things”
“Tory kids will be able to retire nice and young and waste their days in inane pursuits such as reading your drivel.”
“How inane is it that marketers at Microsoft balk at entering the podcasting market because they think the name helps Apple.”
“Instead, it starts off with in inane, one-dimensional, simplistic “McCarthy was right” and what came out of that.”
“Instead, it starts off with in inane, one-dimensional, simplistic “McCarthy was right†and what came out of that.”
“They engage you in inane conversation when you’re late for work.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘inane’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4084 more...
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The weird, the wonderful and the plain hilarious
Loved for their ingenuity, an exact description, or simply for the pure joy of it.
acidulous, aprosdoketon, higgledy-piggledy, lexicographical, ninja, audacious, somnabulist, shivaree, amorphous, quidnunc, glib, melancholy and 353 more...
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List 15
compelling, clandestine, capacious, captivate, amicable, emulate, fetter, frugal, hackneyed, hiatus, inane, jubilant and 13 more...
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of Montreal
Every time I finally decipher Kevin Barnes's song lyrics, I feel somewhat smarter.
These are strange/big/obscure words and phrases from the lyrics of the band 'of Montreal' (intentiona...southern hemisphe..., paradigm, Phaidon Press, permutation, List Christie, Gemini Tactics, eluardian, persecution complex, Himmlers, parabola, Mono Club, subconscious mass... and 132 more...
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The insulting ones
ingrate, sycophant, inane, wanton, pompous, vitriolic, ghastly, cesspool, abhor, highfalutin, obsequious, insidious and 25 more...
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Dean Koontz Life Expectancy
Words I'm learning or investigating that I found by reading Life Expectancy (not all words are in the book).
chutzpah, luminous, torchieres, dunderheaded, inane, lummox, fox-trot, rumba, cha-cha, tango, swing, flub and 37 more...
nuxiy "Generation was decreed and the being who was generated was willed as the "child of duty," namely, as one who must undertake and nourish the supernatural element of his stock and the liberation of the ancestor, and who must receive and pass on to future generations strength, life, and stability. Today, all this has become an inane fancy; men, instead of being in control of sex are controlled by it and wander about like drunkards without having the least cluse as to what takes place in the course of their embraces"
- Julius Evola in "The Revolt against the Modern World" Mar 23, 2009