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inept
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
inept
adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
politically
▪ The shadow budget was also politically inept, although its positive features could have been defended much better than they were.
socially
▪ She found them selfish and demanding and socially inept.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ the inept management of the team
▪ When it comes to girls, Isaac is socially inept and awkward.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Inept

Inept \In*ept"\, a. [L. ineptus; prefix. in- not + aptus apt, fit: cf. F. inepte. Cf. Inapt.]

  1. Not apt or fit; unfit; unsuitable; improper; unbecoming.

    The Aristotelian philosophy is inept for new discoveries.
    --Glanvill.

  2. Silly; useless; nonsensical; absurd; foolish.

    To view attention as a special act of intelligence, and to distinguish it from consciousness, is utterly inept.
    --Sir W. Hamilton.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
inept

c.1600, from Old French inepte (14c.) or directly from Latin ineptus "unsuitable, improper, absurd, awkward, silly, tactless," from in- "not, opposite of" (see in- (1)) + aptus "apt" (see apt). Related: Ineptly; ineptness.

Wiktionary
inept

a. 1 Not able to do something; not proficient; displaying incompetence 2 unfit; unsuitable

WordNet
inept
  1. adj. not elegant or graceful in expression; "an awkward prose style"; "a clumsy apology"; "his cumbersome writing style"; "if the rumor is true, can anything be more inept than to repeat it now?" [syn: awkward, clumsy, cumbersome, inapt, ill-chosen]

  2. generally incompetent and ineffectual; "feckless attempts to repair the plumbing"; "inept handling of the account" [syn: feckless]

  3. revealing lack of perceptiveness or judgment or finesse; "an inept remark"; "it was tactless to bring up those disagreeable" [syn: tactless]

Usage examples of "inept".

Neither Hera nor Mag realized that Asterion knew of their entire, inept plan.

Had he not restored order to the beleaguered city of Palmaris while the inept King remained in Ursal, no doubt riding his private stock of horses and women?

Yet he sensed Boget was genuinely trying to understand him and his inept shipmates.

And most of the losses, he discovered by wading through endless fiches on accident boards, had been due to inept pilotage.

The inescapable conclusion that could be drawn from the utterly inept defense of Coruscant was that Ysanne Isard wanted the New Republic to take the world.

A group of young people danced, giggling, to the rather inept piping of old Solor Pek Raumul.

With every step Pilau looked less inept and, gathering as if for a leap like a long-jumper, he brought his lance up, his long slender arm flashing forward, in a toss that sent his missile up in a perfect ballistic arc.

I missed the kids, even the slumpy, acned, socially inept high school kids.

There was no telling how long Virgie had been conducting her own Darwinian efforts to stamp out the socially inept gene pool.

ANGEL II Ere the first fruit thereof grow audible, Holding as hapless his dream of good guardianship, Jestingly, earnestly, shouting it serviceless, Tardy, inept, and uncouthly designed.

Her inept acrostics, maudlin evasions, theopathies - every recollection formed ripples of mysterious meaning.

For every underqualified minority or woman, there were at least three white men who were equally inept: that was the true legacy of affirmative action, lowering the standards for everyone.

I was now frequenting the athenaeum reading rooms, where the very same loquacious gentleman whom I had encountered before, the mysterious Poe enthusiast, continued his regular appearances, reading the newspapers and gushing over the inept articles appearing in print on Edgar Poe.

If true, the Bedaux expedition must have been the most expensive and cumbersome cover operation ever mounted and Bedaux himself must go down as one of the most inept spies in history.

While the remaining Minids hooted at these inept brachiators, I went to Helen, lifted her to her feet, and led her back down the hillside to our tent.