inchoate

adjective

in·​cho·​ate in-ˈkō-ət 

ˈin-kə-ˌwāt

: being only partly in existence or operation : incipient

especially : imperfectly formed or formulated : formless, incoherent

misty, inchoate suspicions that all is not well with the nation

—J. M. Perry

inchoately adverb

inchoateness noun

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When should you use inchoate?

Inchoate is most often used to describe something that is not, or not yet, completely formed or developed. It's a formal word that's sure to add pizzazz to any conversation—but only if you start working on pronouncing it correctly. The first two letters of inchoate do what you’d expect—exactly what the word in does. However, the choate in inchoate does not share the first sound of chair, nor does it rhyme with oat. Instead, it shares the first sound of cat, and rhymes with poet. Inchoate came to English in the 16th century from the Latin adjective incohātus, meaning "only begun, unfinished, imperfect," which in turn comes from a form of the verb incohāre, meaning "to start work on."

Synonyms

• aborning
• budding
• inceptive
• incipient
• nascent

Examples of inchoate in a Sentence

inchoate feelings of affection for a man whom she had, up till now, thought of as only a friend

Recent Examples on the Web

In life, Nichols had been diminished to an abstraction, a target for the inchoate rage of men who were, at least nominally, part of his own community. —Jelani Cobb, The New Yorker, 31 Jan. 2023

Williams and his admirers were certainly right to point out the inchoate and woolly nature of much of the 'survival of the species' talk which was in the air in the mid-20th century. —Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 14 June 2011

Distant strings heard faintly through an open door, a quiet trumpet in the balcony, and a huddle of wind instruments on the vast stage turned the hall into a great resonating chamber, alive with inchoate whispers. —Vulture, 18 Mar. 2022

An inchoate plot then took shape in the form of the film’s second lead character. —Patrick Brzeski, The Hollywood Reporter, 13 Dec. 2022

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Latin incohātus, inchoātus "only begun, unfinished, imperfect," from past participle of incohāre "to start work on, begin, initiate," perhaps, if the original sense was "to yoke a plow to a team of oxen," from in- in- entry 2 + -cohāre, verbal derivative of cohum "hollow in the middle of a yoke into which a pole is fitted" or "strap used to attach the pole to the yoke," of uncertain origin

Note: The word cohum is known only from the work of the grammarians varro and Sextus Pompeius Festus, and their definitions may have been influenced by the presumed etymologies. Varro, who took the word to mean "hollow in the middle of a yoke" ("sub jugo medio cavum"), may have associated it with cavum "cavity, hole," which he uses as the genus term. Festus, who defines it as a strap or thong (lorum), associates it with cohibēre "to hold together, keep in place." If these meanings are correct, cohum may be linked to a putative western Indo-European verbal base *kag^h- "grasp, enclose" (see the note at haw entry 1), with an o of secondary origin. But given the lack of textual evidence for cohum, any etymology must remain speculative.

First Known Use

1534, in the meaning defined above

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Legal Definition

inchoate

adjective

in·​cho·​ate in-ˈkō-ət, ˈiŋ-kō-ˌāt 

1

a

: not yet made complete, certain, or specific : not perfected see also inchoate lien at lien

b

: not yet transformed into actual use or possession

until an employee has earned his retirement pay…[it] is but an inchoate right

—Peterson v. Fire & Police Pension Ass'n, 759 P.2d 720 (1988)

2

: of or relating to a crime (as attempt, solicitation, or conspiracy) which consists of acts that are preliminary to another crime and that are in themselves criminal compare choate