J. M. Perry 
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When should you use inchoate?
Inchoate comes from inchoare, which means "to start work on" in Latin but translates literally as "to hitch up" (inchoare combines the prefix in- with the Latin noun cohum, which refers to the strap that secures a plow beam to a draft animal's yoke). The concept of this initial step toward the larger task of plowing a field explains how inchoate came to describe something (such as a plan or idea) in its early, not fully formed, stages of development.
Examples of inchoate in a Sentence
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
My own position as to the details of mutation rates and their implications for modern human origins are inchoate.
—Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 14 July 2011
An inchoate plot then took shape in the form of the film’s second lead character.
—Patrick Brzeski, The Hollywood Reporter, 13 Dec. 2022
Strong delicately teases out her characters’ emotional stasis, the end of one major phase and the inchoate beginnings of another.
—Hamilton Cain, Washington Post, 7 Nov. 2022
Families gradually leave; eventually, the nation itself becomes increasingly inchoate, legally and spiritually rooted to a shoreline that is disappearing under rising tides.
—Kausea Natano, Time, 28 Sep. 2022
The rage of men whose grievances are inchoate and inexhaustible found expression in a 58-year-old movie star’s humiliation of his 36-year-old former wife.
—New York Times, 2 June 2022
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'inchoate.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near inchoate
Cite this Entry
“Inchoate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/inchoate. Accessed 3 Jun. 2024.
Copy CitationLegal Definition
inchoate
adjective
Peterson v. Fire & Police Pension Ass'n, 759 P.2d 720 (1988)
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