inchoate

American  

[in-koh-it, -eyt, in-koh-eyt] / ɪnˈkoʊ ɪt, -eɪt, ˈɪn koʊˌeɪt /

adjective

1. not yet completed or fully developed; rudimentary.

2. just begun; incipient.

3. not organized; lacking order.

   an inchoate mass of ideas on the subject.

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inchoate British  

/ ɪnˈkəʊətɪv /

adjective

1. just beginning; incipient

2. undeveloped; immature; rudimentary

3. (of a legal document, promissory note, etc) in an uncompleted state; not yet made specific or valid

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verb

1. to begin

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• inchoateness
  noun
• inchoative
  adjective
• inchoately
  adverb
• inchoation
  noun

Etymology

Origin of inchoate

1525–35; < Latin inchoātus, variant of incohātus, past participle of incohāre “to begin, start work on,” perhaps equivalent to in- in- ² ( def. ) + coh(um) “hollow of a yoke into which the pole is fitted” + -ātus -ate ¹

Explanation

Inchoate means just beginning to form. You can have an inchoate idea, like the earliest flickers of images for your masterpiece, or an inchoate feeling, like your inchoate sense of annoyance toward your sister's new talking parrot. Inchoate comes from a Latin word for beginning. When something is inchoate, although you don’t yet understand what it is fully, you have a strong sense that it is indeed coming. It’s stronger than the wisp of an idea that never turns into anything. But it’s hard to really find the language to describe an inchoate idea. That’s the whole point: you don’t have the words for it yet!

Example Sentences

Inchoate European cooperation offers hope, said Knaus of the European Stability Initiative, but the only alternative to temporary protection was “chaos and closing the borders.”

From Washington Post • Mar. 19, 2022

Inchoate, in′kō-āt, adj. only begun: unfinished, rudimentary: not established.—v.t.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M) by Various

Inchoate and of such flimsy material that the first whiff of reality dissipated them like smoke, these nevertheless left behind them a fragrance, a sensation of golden sweetness and delight.

From The Valiants of Virginia by Rives, Hallie Erminie