inconvenient
Americanadjective
-
not easily accessible or at hand.
The phone is in an inconvenient place.
-
inopportune; untimely.
an inconvenient time for a visit.
-
not suiting one's needs or purposes.
The house has an inconvenient floor plan.
- Synonyms:
- bothersome, awkward, annoying
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of inconvenient
1325–75; Middle English < Latin inconvenient- (stem of inconveniēns ) not suiting. See in- 3, convenient
Explanation
Inconvenient things are difficult or annoying to do. If someone asks you to help move a couch on a Saturday when you have tickets to a game, that's an inconvenient request. If you have to go to the bathroom very badly just as a test is starting, that's inconvenient. If the movie projector breaks in the middle of a movie, that's inconvenient. Other times, things are inconvenient just because they're kind of a pain. It’s inconvenient of your mom to ask you to do chores just as you're ready to go out with friends. Inconvenient things get in the way of what we really want to do.
Vocabulary lists containing inconvenient
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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.
This presents Fed Chair Kevin Warsh with a rather inconvenient truth—if he is still advocating for rate cuts, as in his Senate testimony last month, he may be a lonesome dove.
From Barron's • May 23, 2026
“The Sheep Detectives” is both a powerful story about mourning and a warning against the peril of mindwiping inconvenient histories.
From Salon • May 17, 2026
The good news is that parenting has always been inconvenient.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 8, 2026
"If I don't work, I don't get paid," the tattooist told the BBC, adding that trains had been "really inconvenient" as of late.
From BBC • May 7, 2026
Even before he’d known to wish for them, they’d come, tied to his moods and terribly inconvenient, to hear Great Ellen tell it.
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
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.
