Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Unable to move or act.
- adj. Sluggish in action or motion; lethargic. See Synonyms at inactive.
- adj. Chemistry Not readily reactive with other elements; forming few or no chemical compounds.
- adj. Having no pharmacologic or therapeutic action.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Having no inherent power of action, motion, or resistance; without inherent force; inanimate; lifeless: applied to matter in its intrinsic character: as, an inert mass of clay; an inert corpse.
- Indisposed or unable to move or act; inactive; sluggish: as, an inert drug.
Wiktionary
- adj. unable to move or act; inanimate
- adj. sluggish or lethargic
- adj. in chemistry, not readily reacting with other elements or compounds
- adj. having no therapeutic action
- n. A substance that does not react chemically.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Destitute of the power of moving itself, or of active resistance to motion.
- adj. Indisposed to move or act; very slow to act; sluggish; dull; inactive; indolent; lifeless.
- adj. Not having or manifesting active properties; not affecting other substances when brought in contact with them; powerless for an expected or desired effect.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. slow and apathetic
- adj. unable to move or resist motion
- adj. having only a limited ability to react chemically; chemically inactive
Etymologies
- Latin iners, inert- : in-, not; see in-1 + ars, skill; see ar- in Indo-European roots.
Examples
“Merck said small pieces of the shrink wrap, which it called an "inert carbon material," can stick to the inside of product vials and turn brown during the sterilization process.”
The Wall Street Journal: Shrink Wrap Found in Merck Vaccines
“And what we know as inert matter, this is only the result of death in individuals, it is the dead bodies of individuals decomposed and resmelted between the hammer and anvil, fire and sand of the sun and the moon.”
“Yet Shield limps out of the gate, inert from the first frame and devoid of suspense.”
“Potential intelligence, like potential, can remain inert forever.”
“If you took away just one proton, you would have flourine, a gas which, far from being inert, is highly reactive and dangerous.”
“As a chemical kineticist and photochemist, I knew that such a molecule could not remain inert in the atmosphere forever, if only because solar photochemistry at high altitudes would break it down.”
“A reaction induced on the laboratory bench may, like yeast in inert dough, leaven the whole of mankind, lightening and lifting it to heights undreamed of by its ancestors.”
“After a long time, Secotan, who had lain inert where he had been thrown into the boat, got to his knees and took up the second paddle.”
“a certain form of exertion and action, -- I shall grant, of course, that nothing whatever that exists is in that sense inert; but I shall affirm that you use the word inert in quite a different sense from the usual one.”
“If I have what seems like a terrific idea for a story and no idea how to end it, I know that it’s a binary explosive: the idea I have will remain inert until it meets up with some other idea that directs it towards a specific end.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘inert’.
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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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gre
municipal, whit, dissembler, berate, liberally, embellish, dissimilitude, histrionics, flamboyance, bombastic, bovine, calumny and 142 more...
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ghost
This is Ghost List 2 ( the kind that go 'boo!' ) :P
phantom, spectral, specter, spectre, spooky, poltergeist, haunt, spirit, banshee, cryptic, shadow, phantasm and 294 more...
Telofy A nerd is never inert. Sep 28, 2008