inchoate
Americanadjective
-
not yet completed or fully developed; rudimentary.
-
just begun; incipient.
-
not organized; lacking order.
an inchoate mass of ideas on the subject.
adjective
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just beginning; incipient
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undeveloped; immature; rudimentary
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(of a legal document, promissory note, etc) in an uncompleted state; not yet made specific or valid
verb
Other Word Forms
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!
Vocabulary lists containing inchoate
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
So much of your book is about what I think of as inchoate or invisible institutions.
From Slate • Oct. 27, 2025
Another problem with the analysis is that the candidates’ proposals are inchoate — as the committee acknowledges.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 8, 2024
Instead, the emails became a symbol of a powerful but inchoate sense, magnified by disproportionate press attention, that she was devious and deceptive.
From Seattle Times • Feb. 13, 2024
He remains an inchoate, irredeemable, iconic mess of humanity developmentally stuck between diapers and nursery school.
From Salon • Dec. 14, 2023
He mumbles a few inchoate phrases to someone who is not there.
From "Grendel" by John Gardner
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
