apt

[apt]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR apt ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

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.

Origin of apt

1350–1400; Middle English (< Anglo-French) < Latin aptus fastened, fitted, fitting, appropriate, equivalent to ap- fasten, attach + -tus past participle suffix

Related formsapt·ly, adverbapt·ness, nouno·ver·apt, adjectiveo·ver·apt·ly, adverbo·ver·apt·ness, noun

Can be confusedapt likely (see usage note at likely)

Synonyms for apt

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR apt ON THESAURUS.COM

1. 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.

plural apts.

apartment.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for apt

relevant, appropriate, felicitous, fitting, apropos, suitable, correct, happy, likely, prone, adept, intelligent, able, smart, applicable, apposite, befitting, fit, germane, just

Examples from the Web for apt

Contemporary Examples of apt

Today, it's our governing elites, regardless of party, who are most apt rush us into the future.
Our Lame Cult of the Presidency
James Poulos
October 14, 2014
Experts we talked to said the comparison between Goodell and law enforcement may not necessarily be apt.
Fact-Checking the Sunday Shows: Sept 14
PunditFact.com
September 14, 2014
Their timing is apt: The medical examiner is now a hot commodity in TV-land.
The Dirty Secret Doctors Don't Want You To Know
Kent Sepkowitz
August 22, 2014
The goal came off his tummy inside the Portuguese box, an apt way to score for a very gutsy player.
Team USA 2, Portugal 2: Seconds Away From World Cup Glory
Tunku Varadarajan
June 23, 2014
Bryan is very interested in World War II, which was a very big part of X-Men, Valkyrie, and Apt Pupil.
Simon Kinberg on ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past,’ ‘The Fantastic Four’ Reboot, and Black Superheroes
Marlow Stern
May 25, 2014

Historical Examples of apt

She was distrustful of the future, and apt to anticipate bad fortune.
Brave and Bold
Horatio Alger
She was apt not only to know what she talked about, but she was a woman of resource, unafraid of action.
The Spenders
Harry Leon Wilson
Sympathetic persons are apt to assume that every refined emotion must be ennobling.
Malbone
Thomas Wentworth Higginson
He confessed to me that he was apt to go astray when intent on rhyme.
Biographical Sketches
Nathaniel Hawthorne
The St. is an apt illustration of the probable workings of Plautus' mind.
The Dramatic Values in Plautus
Wilton Wallace Blancke

British Dictionary definitions for apt

apt

adjective

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)

Derived Formsaptly, adverbaptness, noun

Word Origin for apt

C14: from Latin aptus fitting, suitable, from apere to fasten

apt.

abbreviation for plural apts.

apartment

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.