inchoate
UK/ɪnˈkəʊət//ɪnˈkoʊət/
inchoate adjective: recently started but not fully formed yet; just begun; only elementary or immature.
Adjective
inchoate (comparative more inchoate, superlative most inchoate)
- Recently started but not fully formed yet; just begun; only elementary or immature.
- neither a substance perfect, nor a substance inchoate1614, Walter Ralegh [i.e., Walter Raleigh], The Historie of the World […], London: […] William Stansby for Walter Burre, […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=1 to 5)
- It do's indeed perfect and crown thoſe graces which were here inchoate and begun, but no mans converſion ever ſucceeded his being there ...1677, Richard Allestree, The Art of Contentment, page 187
- Synonyms:
- elementary, immature, embryonic, incipient, nascent, rudimentary
- Chaotic, disordered, confused; also, incoherent, rambling.
- The Met's chairman, Sir Edward Watkin, was also chairman of that company [the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway], which duplicated other railways' routes in an inchoate way between Manchester and Grimsby, and generally stumbled about the north.2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 73
- Of a crime, imposing criminal liability for an incompleted act.
- Congress considers the inchoate offenses of attempt and conspiracy, even conspiracy without an overt act, to be just as serious as the federal substantive drug offenses which they contemplate.2006, United States v. McKenney, 450 F.3d 39 (1st Cir. 2006)
Noun
inchoate (plural inchoates)
Verb
UK/ɪnˈkəʊeɪt/US/ɪnˈkoʊeɪt/
inchoate (third-person singular simple present inchoates, present participle inchoating, simple past and past participle inchoated)
- To begin or start (something).
- To cause or bring about. In the field of criminology, to encourage, assist, conspire, aid and abet, incite, etc.
- To make a start.
inchoate meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
inchoate in Hindi
- started but not fully formed
- अपूर्ण apūrṇ, अपक्व apakva, असम्पूर्ण asampūrṇ, अस्फुटित asphuṭit, अविकसित aviksit, आरम्भिक ārambhik
- chaotic, incoherent
- अपूर्ण apūrṇ, अपक्व apakva, असम्पूर्ण asampūrṇ, अस्फुटित asphuṭit, अविकसित aviksit, आरम्भिक ārambhik
inchoate in Tamil
- உருப்பெறாத, வளர்ச்சியடையாத, தொடக்க நிலையிலுள்ள, ஆரம்ப, அமைவடையாத, சீரற்ற
inchoate in Marathi
- started but not fully formed
- अपूर्ण apūrṇa, अपक्व apakva, असंपूर्ण asampūrṇa, अस्फुटित asphuṭit, अविकसित aviksit, आरंभिक ārambhik
inchoate in Urdu
- started but not fully formed
- اِبْتِدَائِی ibtidāī
- chaotic, incoherent
- اِبْتِدَائِی ibtidāī
More languagesFewer languages
- inchoate in Bengali
- প্রাথমিক পর্যায়ে থাকা, অপরিণত, অসংগঠিত
- inchoate in Kannada
- ತೊಡಗಿದ, ಬೆಳೆಯದ
- inchoate in Sanskrit
- अपूर्ण apūrṇa, अपक्व apakva, असम्पूर्ण asampūrṇa, अस्फुटित asphuṭita
- inchoate in Arabic
- اِبْتِدَائِيّ ibtidāʔiyy
- inchoate in Persian
- اِبْتِدَائِی
Examples of inchoate in a sentence
- ...unfortunately, we have to face inchoate schemes which will demand the utmost jealousy and vigilance of Parliament.1885, Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, On the Death of General Gordon:
- The private conception of any breach of law is apt to be inspiriting, for the scheme (while yet inchoate) wears dashing and attractive colours.1889, Robert Louis Stevenson, Lloyd Osbourne, “The Tribulations of Morris: Part the First”, in The Wrong Box, London: Longmans, Green, and...
- A youth whose brain glowed like a furnace, whose heart throbbed with tumult of high ambitions, of inchoate desires.1892, George Gissing, Born In Exile:
- Very odd and ugly were these beings, as indeed are most beings of a world yet inchoate and rudely fashioned.1919, H. P. Lovecraft, The Doom That Came to Sarnath:
Synonyms of inchoate
Forms of inchoate
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more inchoate |
| superlative | most inchoate |
| Noun | |
| plural | inchoates |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | inchoates |
| present participle | inchoating |
| past participle | inchoated |
| past | inchoated |
Origin of inchoate
The adjective is first attested in 1534, the verb circa 1631; borrowed from Latin incohātus (“begun, unfinished”), perfect passive participle of incohō (“to begin”), see -ate (etymology 1, 2 and 3). Cognate with Spanish incoar (“to initiate, commence, begin”).
Words formed from inchoate
Questions about inchoate
- What does inchoate mean?
- Inchoate means recently started but not fully formed yet; just begun; only elementary or immature.
- What is inchoate in Hindi?
- Inchoate in Hindi is अपूर्ण (apūrṇ), अपक्व (apakva), असम्पूर्ण (asampūrṇ). See Inchoate meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use inchoate in a sentence?
- ...unfortunately, we have to face inchoate schemes which will demand the utmost jealousy and vigilance of Parliament.
- What part of speech is inchoate?
- Inchoate can be an adjective, a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce inchoate?
- Inchoate is pronounced /ɪnˈkəʊət/ (UK).
Words near inchoate in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: inchoate (page history and authors); inchoate (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); inchoate (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); inchoate (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-us-inchoate.oga.
Cite this entry: “inchoate.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/inchoate. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.