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Definition of "inarticulate" []

  • Uttered without the use of normal words or syllables; incomprehensible as speech or language: "a cry . . . that . . . sank down into an inarticulate whine” ( Jack London). (adjective)
  • Unable to speak; speechless: inarticulate with astonishment. (adjective)
  • Unable to speak with clarity or eloquence: an inarticulate debater. (adjective)
  • Going unexpressed: inarticulate sorrow. (adjective)
  • Biology Not having joints or segments. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "inarticulate" in a sentence
  • "Being ill-informed, uneducated, and inarticulate is not a policy."
  • "Saxon gasped, standing with hands clasped in inarticulate delight."
  • "So knowledge that’s widespread but implicit and inarticulate is routinely mistaken for the kind of innovation it’s necessary to incentivize with a monopoly grant."