Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- n. Fitness; suitableness; appropriateness; as, the aptness of things to their end.
- n. Disposition of the mind; propensity; as, the aptness of men to follow example.
- n. Quickness of apprehension; readiness in learning; docility; as, an aptness to learn is more observable in some children than in others.
- n. Proneness; tendency; as, the aptness of iron to rust.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- n. Fitness; suitableness; appropriateness.
- n. Disposition of the mind; propensity.
- n. Quickness of apprehension; readiness in learning; docility.
- n. Proneness; tendency.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The state or quality of being apt, in any sense of that word.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- n. a disposition to behave in a certain way
- n. appropriateness for the occasion
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Examples
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Manning points out that a pattern of cognitive failure, followed by delayed understanding, has a certain aptness here.
How to Save 'Tintern Abbey' from New-Critical Pedagogy (in Three Minutes Fifty-Six Seconds)
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Thus there was a certain aptness in his first publishers 'commission, which was to travel to the industrial north of England and write a report on the effects of unemployment and poverty on the lives of the working class.
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This natural aptness, which is fortified by living together, was in Lionello sharpened and refined by his ever wakeful malevolence.
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We recall the aptness of Prof. Agassiz's remark: _ "There is even a certain antagonism between instinct and intelligence, so that instinct loses its force and peculiar characteristics, whenever intelligence becomes developed."
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But quality as a poem and aptness for a huge public event are two different things.
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Davies punctuates his collage of exquisitely selected archival footage and a few contemporary scenes shot in crisp digital photography with a sound track of extraordinary aptness and variety: Handel, Benny Goodman, Brahms, Salvador Bacarisse, the Spinners, Mahler, Peggy Lee.
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One pleasure in the rereading of Marx is to savor the trenchancy and aptness of his literary allusions.
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Elsewhere Mrs. Edwards gets her own way, quoting with familiarity and aptness from Sophocles and Millay and making astute comparisons between the novelistic characterizations of John Updike and of Henry James.
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Really, one glance in John Hurt's direction is all it takes to appreciate the aptness of his last name.
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House Speaker John Bohener defended his aptness to cry and habit of smoking during an appearance on this weekend's edition of "Fox News Sunday."
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