inexpert

American  

[in-eks-purt, in-ik-spurt] / ɪnˈɛks pɜrt, ˌɪn ɪkˈspɜrt /

adjective

1. not expert; unskilled.

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inexpert British  

/ ɪnˈɛkspɜːt /

adjective

1. not expert; unskilled or unskilful; inept

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Other Word Forms

• inexpertly
  adverb
• inexpertness
  noun

Etymology

Origin of inexpert

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English word from Latin word inexpertus. See in- ³, expert

Explanation

If you're inexpert at something, you haven't been taught to do it, and you can't do it very well. An inexpert painter might spatter paint all over your wood floors and furniture. Being inexpert at some activity means you don't have much practice doing it. It takes an inexpert knitter a lot longer to finish a hat than one with experience, and an inexpert driver is still learning the rules of the road. If you're an expert, you're a professional with skill and knowledge, from the Latin root word expertus, "tried, proved, or known by experience." When you add the "not" prefix in-, you get inexpert.

Example Sentences

Inexpert at perspective and anatomy, they paint awkward, stiff figures, flat shadowless backgrounds.

From Time Magazine Archive

Inexpert in the manual alphabet, she wasted no time nor labor on its acquisition for herself; but, notwithstanding this, "subscraction" had no terrors for Lucille.

From The Storm Centre by Murfree, Mary Noailles