inelegant

American  

[in-el-i-guhnt] / ɪnˈɛl ɪ gənt /

adjective

1. not elegant; lacking in refinement, gracefulness, or good taste.

---

inelegant British  

/ ɪnˈɛlɪɡənt /

adjective

1. lacking in elegance or refinement; unpolished or graceless

2. coarse or crude

---

Other Word Forms

• inelegance
  noun
• inelegantly
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of inelegant

First recorded in 1500–10, inelegant is from the Latin word inēlegant- (stem of inēlegāns ). See in- ³, elegant

Explanation

Something that's inelegant isn't polished or cultured, but instead is awkward, rude, or ungraceful. Your loud footsteps clomping down the hall of a palace as you race to meet the Queen are inelegant. Your inelegant tap dance probably won't win first prize in the school talent show, and your brother's inelegant behavior might get him thrown out of an extremely formal party. In both cases, the required amount of grace just isn't present — in your brother's case, it might be his inelegant laughter or his inelegant clothing that cause him trouble. The Latin root, inelegantem, means "without taste" or "without judgment."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

inelegant

The clank of this supposed breakthrough idea is as inelegant as the meandering storytelling.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 11, 2025

The victory was inelegant, but this wasn’t about style.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 4, 2025

Hence the event's rather convoluted and inelegant official title.

From BBC ● Jun. 10, 2025

Plenty of the twists leading up to the last episode are idiotic, including a few scenes relying on CGI distractingly inelegant enough to border on repulsive.

From Salon ● Feb. 13, 2025

It seemed so American to her, flossing, that mechanical sliding of a string between teeth, inelegant and functional.

From "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie