inchoate means recently started but not fully formed yet; just begun; only elementary or immature. It carries an Arena rating of 2010, earned across 38 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, inchoate ranks #551 of 17,132 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #687 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #1,173 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #1,429 of 17,138 for Most Incisive Words.
inchoate is pronounced /ɪnˈkəʊət/.
Why “inchoate” is a great word
Recently begun and not yet fully formed or developed; rudimentary or incipient. From Latin *incohātus* ('begun, unfinished'), perfect passive participle of *incohō* ('to begin'), first attested in English in 1534. Unlike 'nascent' (which seizes the electric moment of birth) or 'chaotic' (which describes an established state of pandemonium), *inchoate* dwells in the foggy, unlit plains between inception and form. It is the first faint colour in the eastern sky before dawn, the groping of a half-remembered melody, the damp, unshaped clay waiting on the wheel—the profound, hopeful promise of a thing that has not yet decided what it will be.
Etymology
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”).
adj
- Recently started but not fully formed yet; just begun; only elementary or immature.e.g.“neither a substance perfect, nor a substance inchoate” — 1614, Walter Ralegh [i.e., Walter Raleigh], The Historie of the World […], London: […] William Stansby for Walter Burre, […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=1 to 5):
- Chaotic, disordered, confused; also, incoherent, rambling.
- Of a crime, imposing criminal liability for an incompleted act.e.g.“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
- A beginning, an immature start.
verb
- 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.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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