inchoate

[ in-koh-it, -eyt or, especially British, in-koh-eyt ]

/ ɪnˈkoʊ ɪt, -eɪt or, especially British, ˈɪn koʊˌeɪt /

Save This Word!

See synonyms for inchoate on Thesaurus.com

adjective

not yet completed or fully developed; rudimentary.

just begun; incipient.

not organized; lacking order: an inchoate mass of ideas on the subject.

QUIZ

WILL YOU SAIL OR STUMBLE ON THESE GRAMMAR QUESTIONS?

Smoothly step over to these common grammar mistakes that trip many people up. Good luck!

Question 1 of 7

Fill in the blank: I can’t figure out _____ gave me this gift.

who

whom

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

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 + coh(um) “hollow of a yoke into which the pole is fitted” + -ātus -ate¹

OTHER WORDS FROM inchoate

in·cho·ate·ly, adverbin·cho·ate·ness, noun

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH inchoate

inchoate , innate

Words nearby inchoate

in charge, inch by inch, in check, incher, inchmeal, inchoate, inchoation, inchoative, inch of mercury, Inchon, in chorus

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use inchoate in a sentence

The metaverse is inchoate enough as a concept for just about anyone to seem like they know what they’re doing, regardless of whether they actually do.
As hiring in the metaverse ramps up, experts caution against working with snake oil salesmen|Alexander Lee|November 22, 2021|Digiday
At these basal layers, beneath even emotions and moods, there lies a cognitively subterranean, inchoate, difficult-to-describe experience of simply being a living organism.
We Are Beast Machines - Issue 107: The Edge|Anil Seth|October 13, 2021|Nautilus
Yet, despite its inchoate state and potential dismissal by other browsers, the method has been added not just to specs for digital ad techniques but for a variety of potential web standards.
Google’s vague privacy cure-all is showing up in new proposals, but some say it could break the internet|Kate Kaye|August 30, 2021|Digiday
Previously, I had imagined each of my fetuses as a sort of generic polliwog inside me, inchoate and more or less benign, or at least not yet capable of mocking my choice of walking shoes.
Moms: You shaped your children, but the reverse is true, too — down to your very cells|Abigail Tucker|May 6, 2021|Washington Post

Their inchoate fury lumped together anger at same-sex marriage, at foreigners and at “the system.”
America’s Ambassadors of Hate|Christopher Dickey|February 4, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Yet the show has gotten a deal of negative criticism for being inchoate, unselective, too rambling, and uneven.
A New Exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum Puts a Modern Face on Chinese Art|Melik Kaylan|January 5, 2014|DAILY BEAST
But more often than not, the terrible beatings rained down on them for no reason other than sheer inchoate rage.
The Real-Life Horse Whisperer|Lloyd Grove|June 17, 2011|DAILY BEAST
Though blurred, the economic divide was still manifest, although all of them seemed to feel strong, if inchoate, political fervor.
Revolt in the Middle East: Is Jordan Next?|Rebecca Davis O'Brien|January 30, 2011|DAILY BEAST
William Morris is so inchoate that you can't even really describe their culture.
Hollywood's Coming Culture Clash|Kim Masters|March 25, 2009|DAILY BEAST
The specimen shown in fig. 51 contains four perfect Swastikas and two inchoate and uncertain.
The Swastika|Thomas Wilson
He was as awkward in displaying that inchoate theatre as a newly-made father with his first-born.
The Regent|E. Arnold Bennett
But the time came when equally inchoate ideas of his own manhood led him to grow cool.
In Connection with the De Willoughby Claim|Frances Hodgson Burnett
The result was the second stage, which my enemies call inchoate and I call Impressionism.
The Life of James McNeill Whistler|Elizabeth Robins Pennell
In the inchoate phase of their development they are but different aspects of the same general facts of social structure.
The Theory of the Leisure Class|Thorstein Veblen

British Dictionary definitions for inchoate

inchoate

adjective (ɪnˈkəʊeɪt, -ˈkəʊɪt)

just beginning; incipient

undeveloped; immature; rudimentary

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

verb (ɪnˈkəʊeɪt) (tr)

to begin

Derived forms of inchoate

inchoately, adverbinchoateness, nouninchoation, nouninchoative (ɪnˈkəʊətɪv), adjective

Word Origin for inchoate

C16: from Latin incohāre to make a beginning, literally: to hitch up, from in- ² + cohum yokestrap

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

inchoate

Origin of inchoate

OTHER WORDS FROM inchoate

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH inchoate

Words nearby inchoate

Words related to inchoate

How to use inchoate in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for inchoate

Derived forms of inchoate

Word Origin for inchoate