inchoate

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“
But this alchemical vision is also informed in part by an actual fascination with the inchoate, a sneaking sympathy for it, a feeling of yearning for its formless form which took the symbol of the "Indian" for its focus: "Man" in the state of nature, uncorrupted by "government."

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Definitions (8)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. adjective In an initial or early stage; incipient.
  2. adjective Imperfectly formed or developed: a vague, inchoate idea.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (3)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

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Examples (50)

  • The nightmares and inchoate, passionate deliria of a strong-minded child who is sick, abused, or unhappy can disturb everyone in the neighborhood, even in the next village. —  F ;SF; - vol 103 issue 04-05 - October-November 2002
  • His eyes were dark and inchoate, and there seemed a devil in his long, wiry body. —  Lawrence - Kangaroo
  • At its core is bipartisan recognition of an inchoate, nationwide, don†™ t-just-stand-there-do-something groundswell. —  California Progress Report
  • Ideologically inchoate, populist movements rely on their leaders to provide vital political glue. —  CounterPunch
  • A helpless, inchoate, human being who has yet through the imaginative and rational [!] creation of its own self and world to prove that it is worthy of life. —  Latest entries from endlesslyrocking.blog-city.com
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Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Latin inchoātus, past participle of inchoāre, to begin, alteration of incohāre : in-, in; see in-2 + cohum, strap from yoke to harness.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Latin inchoatus, incohatus, past participle of inchoare, properly incohare (later Old Italian incoare = Spanish incoar), begin, from in, in, on, to, + cohare, not otherwise found.
  2. = Spanish incoado = Portuguese inchoado = Italian incoato, from Latin inchoatus, past participle: see the verb.
 

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/ˈɪnkəeɪt/
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