apt
[apt]
- inclined; disposed; given; prone: too apt to slander others.
- likely: Am I apt to find him at home?
- unusually intelligent; able to learn quickly and easily: an apt pupil.
- suited to the purpose or occasion; appropriate: an apt metaphor; a few apt remarks on world peace.
- Archaic. prepared; ready; willing.
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Origin of apt
1350–1400; Middle English (< Anglo-French) < Latin aptus fastened, fitted, fitting, appropriate, equivalent to ap- fasten, attach + -tus past participle suffix
Synonyms
See more synonyms for apt on Thesaurus.com1. liable. 3. clever, bright; adaptable; handy, adroit, dexterous, skillful. 4. fitting, meet, germane, felicitous.
Synonym study
4. Apt, pertinent, relevant all refer to something suitable or fitting. Apt means to the point and particularly appropriate: an apt comment. Pertinent means pertaining to the matter in hand: a pertinent remark. Relevant means directly related to and important to the subject: a relevant opinion.
Usage note
Some usage guides insist that apt followed by an infinitive can or should be used to mean only “inclined, disposed”: He is apt to ignore matters he regards as unimportant. In fact, apt is standard in all varieties of speech and writing as a synonym for likely in contexts that suggest probability without any implication of a natural disposition toward: Hostilities are apt to break out if the confrontation is not soon resolved. She is apt to arrive almost any time now. See also liable, likely.
apt.
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Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for apt
Contemporary Examples
Today, it's our governing elites, regardless of party, who are most apt rush us into the future.
Experts we talked to said the comparison between Goodell and law enforcement may not necessarily be apt.
Their timing is apt: The medical examiner is now a hot commodity in TV-land.
The goal came off his tummy inside the Portuguese box, an apt way to score for a very gutsy player.
Bryan is very interested in World War II, which was a very big part of X-Men, Valkyrie, and Apt Pupil.
Historical Examples
She was distrustful of the future, and apt to anticipate bad fortune.
Brave and BoldHoratio Alger
She was apt not only to know what she talked about, but she was a woman of resource, unafraid of action.
The SpendersHarry Leon Wilson
Sympathetic persons are apt to assume that every refined emotion must be ennobling.
MalboneThomas Wentworth Higginson
He confessed to me that he was apt to go astray when intent on rhyme.
Biographical SketchesNathaniel Hawthorne
The St. is an apt illustration of the probable workings of Plautus' mind.
The Dramatic Values in PlautusWilton Wallace Blancke
apt
- suitable for the circumstance or purpose; appropriate
- (postpositive; foll by an infinitive) having a tendency (to behave as specified)
- having the ability to learn and understand easily; clever (esp in the phrase an apt pupil)
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Word Origin
C14: from Latin aptus fitting, suitable, from apere to fasten
apt.
- apartment
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for apt
adj.
mid-14c., "inclined, disposed;" late 14c., "suited, fitted, adapted," from Old French ate (13c., Modern French apte), or directly from Latin aptus "fit, suited," adjectival use of past participle of *apere "to attach, join, tie to," from PIE root *ap- "to grasp, take, reach" (cf. Sanskrit apnoti "he reaches," Latin apisci "to reach after, attain," Hittite epmi "I seize"). Elliptical sense of "becoming, appropriate" is from 1560s.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper