inane
UK/ɪˈneɪn/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Australia/ɪˈnæɪn/
inane adjective: lacking sense or meaning, often to the point of boredom or annoyance.
Adjective
inane (comparative inaner or more inane, superlative inanest or most inane)
- Lacking sense or meaning, often to the point of boredom or annoyance.
- This supremely gifted kid told me that in the early elementary grades, the songs sung in music class were so inane that he wanted to skip grades already! Eventually he did, so better late than never.
- Francesca followed, reluctant enough in her secret; for though she would not have admitted it even to herself, she did shrink from the infliction of the inane solemnities with which her father garnished his discourse—to say nothing of the ungracious reflections which so often glanced at herself.1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXIX, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 237
- Purposeless; pointless.
- Vague and inane instincts.1832, [Isaac Taylor], Saturday Evening. […], London: Holdsworth and Ball, →OCLC
Noun
inane (plural inanes)
- That which is void or empty.
- The undistinguishable inane of infinite space.1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], chapter 2, in An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], →OCLC, book I, page 13
- […] whom we watch as we watch the clouds careering in the windy, bottomless inane, or read about like characters in ancient and rather fabulous annals.1874–1881, Robert Louis Stevenson, Virginibus Puerisque and Other Papers, London: C[harles] Kegan Paul & Co., […], published 1881, →OCLC
inane meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
inane in Tamil
- வெறுமையான, ஒன்றுமில்லாத, பொருளற்ற, முட்டாள்தனமான
inane in Urdu
- بےمغز, بےوقوف, خالی, کورا, پولا, پونگا
inane in Bengali
- বোকা, অর্থহীন, শূন্যগর্ভ
inane in Malayalam
- foolish, silly, stupid
- ബോധമില്ലാത്ത, കഥയില്ലാത്ത, ചേതനയില്ലാത്ത, പൊള്ളയായ, ലാട, ബാലിശമായ
More languagesFewer languages
- inane in Kannada
- ಬುದ್ಧಿಯಿಲ್ಲದ, ಅರ್ಥಶೂನ್ಯ, ಖಾಲಿ, ಬರಿದಾದ
Synonyms of inane
Forms of inane
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | inaner |
| comparative | more inane |
| superlative | inanest |
| superlative | most inane |
| Noun | |
| plural | inanes |
Origin of inane
From Latin inānis (“empty, vain, useless”), of unknown origin.
Words formed from inane
Words that rhyme with inane
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- drain
- pane
- gain
- main
- sustain
- vein
- entertain
- skein
- Wayne
- abstain
- bane
- campaign
- champagne
- crane
- entrain
- fain
- insane
- maine
- pain
- plane
- stain
- wane
- Aquitaine
- ascertain
- chicane
- contain
- detain
- explain
- maintain
- mundane
- obtain
- refrain
- remain
- vane
- amain
- arcane
- Blaine
- complain
- deign
- detrain
- distrain
- kane
- ordain
- pertain
- profane
- public domain
- reign
- swain
Questions about inane
- What does inane mean?
- Inane means lacking sense or meaning, often to the point of boredom or annoyance.
- What is inane in Tamil?
- Inane in Tamil is வெறுமையான, ஒன்றுமில்லாத, பொருளற்ற. See Inane meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is inane?
- Inane can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce inane?
- Inane is pronounced /ɪˈneɪn/ (UK).
Words near inane in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: inane (page history and authors); inane (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); inane (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); inane (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); inane (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); inane (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-inane.ogg.
Cite this entry: “inane.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/inane. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.