Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Not apt or fitting; inappropriate.
- adj. Displaying a lack of judgment, sense, or reason; foolish: an inept remark.
- adj. Bungling or clumsy; incompetent: inept handling of the account.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
Wiktionary
- adj. Not able to do something; not proficient; displaying incompetence
- adj. Unfit; unsuitable
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Not apt or fit; unfit; unsuitable; improper; unbecoming.
- adj. Silly; useless; nonsensical; absurd; foolish.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. revealing lack of perceptiveness or judgment or finesse
- adj. not elegant or graceful in expression
- adj. generally incompetent and ineffectual
Etymologies
- From French inepte ("feckless") (Wiktionary)
- Latin ineptus : in-, not; see in-1 + aptus, suitable; see apt. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“I guess "inept" is one way to describe this handling of a national tragedy.”
The Huffington Post: Allison Kilkenny: But the Air Base Is Safe, Right?
“My point about blaming the bosses for being inept is proved by the above, because you will not get the backing from them if you deal with incidents like this because the majority are now politicaly correct pen pushers referd to as managers and not police officers.”
“Charlie is forced into running the factory after his father's death, and he is somewhat inept from a business standpoint.”
“It only hits a reset button of building or rebuilding a fanbase, while ignoring the real crux of the issue--long-term inept franchises will not draw fans in *any* market, whether you're Atlanta, Pittsburgh see pre-Crosby, or Chicago.”
“The investigation was called inept and dishonest by the defense, but law enforcement officers in Cary went to great lengths to preserve and analyze all the evidence," Zellinger said.”
“Notice I also used the word inept, as in "poor management".”
“That, or the human race orphaned the word inept by limiting the use of the word ept out of existance.”
“And I've got another, too -- 'inept' -- and that's what you are now, Patricia Kendall.”
“The judicial branch is not typically described as inept, probably because its deliberations are private and the messy give-and-take that precedes opinions is seldom open for analysis.”
Glenn W. Smith: The Dangerous Framing of Congress as an Inept Community
“Elsewhere, the idea of inept or failing homeschoolers is being discussed, particularly the comparison between traditionally schooled and homeschooled students, standards for homeschoolers, and the failure of some homeschooling families to deliver a certain type of education.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘inept’.
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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 4087 more...
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2nd part
prelude, ample, escalate, prototype, accession, acquisition, archives, zealot, indict, verdict, intimidating, timid and 454 more...
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EN-HU - important words for a HU inte...
Words only (I left out the expressions) from Geza Kerenyi's EN-HU interpreters' dictionary. Most of them pose some difficulty when interpreted between HU and EN in either or both directions.
abalone, abrasive, abstractionist, abstruse, abysmal, academia, accessibility, accessible, acclimate, accolade, accompanist, achiever and 1469 more...
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common UA vocab. in US
Interesting, there is a traditional vocabulary of an Ukrainian, that differs from vocabulary of average American. It would be nice to explore it.
jackdaw, incongruous, cassock, vivid, magpie, humdrum, amongst, wonder, wandering, wheedling, wheedle, osseous and 368 more...
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Words build meanings from origins( et...
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 2046 more...
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GRE
predilection, explicit, appeal, supplication, appealing, enchanting, ovation, pertinent, apropos, opportunely, applicable, germane and 381 more...
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In the News
Words from politics, news, and business
sedition, juridical, feckless, austerity, debenture, sovereign, subterfuge, amicus, obfuscate, transparency, usurp, paradox and 26 more...
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ept
kept, wept, adept, inept, depth, scepter, exception, reception, perception, preconception, conception, inception and 74 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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Words I love.
I'm not sure why these catch my eye, but I do enjoy using them.
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my GRE words
pedant, wizened, histrionic, logorrhea, frenetic, approbation, quibble, knell, acclivity, droog, prevarication, aplomb and 182 more...
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Personal Vocabulary List
All my favourite words that I come across!
veritable, incongruence, rigamorole, letcherous, revolting, repulsive, reputrid, rapatious, forays, guise, placate, paradigm and 1162 more...
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GRE verbal 1
GRE
hypocrisy, wizened, arcane, nascent, trifling, malaise, quibble, derogatory, inept, recant, splenetic, insouciance and 21 more...
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The Sog Collection
My big word list.
chaos, flaccid, empirical, flotsam, cacophony, grumble, assuage, awe, romance, mortality, coalesce, fortuitous and 3282 more...
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Faves
nepenthe, cupidity, anodyne, obdurate, doleful, obsolescent, quale, piquant, velleity, inchoate, disport, facile and 366 more...
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Words I have to learn
exasperate, felony, weld, fraud, worksheet, ransom, rehearse, preliminary, offshore, parole, infamous, sieve and 436 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for inept.

sonofgroucho Thanks, seanahan, that's interesting. Dec 24, 2006
seanahan Actually, it makes perfect sense. The word was originally "not apt" or "inapt", but the vowel got assimilated over time. Dec 21, 2006
seanahan Unless they all needed the "Emergency Pregnancy Test"? Dec 21, 2006
sonofgroucho Interestingly, as far as I can see, "ept" does not exist, although some Wordies have listed it! Dec 21, 2006