inarticulate
9
7.4
- adjective
- /ˌɪnɑːrˈtɪkjʊlɪt/
:
inarticulado
- Despite his talent, he remained inarticulate when asked to speak publicly.
- often inarticulate
He never beat her, but his pure, inarticulate fury would fill the house for days, weeks at a time, making the air humid, hard to breathe.
- He never beat her, but his pure, inarticulate fury would fill the house for days, weeks at a time, making the air humid, hard to breathe.
- I've kept on being inarticulate or I have felt at a loss for words in describing this, because there's two aspects that it is amazing on.
Examples
-
During the debate, he became inarticulate, stumbling over his words.
-
Sometimes it's painful to be inarticulate.
-
She was a bit inarticulate, to tell you the truth.
-
"Yet the Party of Yeah, according to D'Souza," is generally an inarticulate group.
Academic text (2001) -
Life is dominated by alienation and an inarticulate sense of absence; there is no "here" here.
Academic text (1995) -
History from the bottom up, history of the so-called inarticulate, revolutionized our understanding of the past.
Academic text (2005) -
As he stumbled after her, she emitted an inarticulate cry, wrestling with something tangled in her pocket.
Fiction book (2002) -
His jaws opened, and he muttered some inarticulate sounds while a grin wrinkled his cheeks.
Fiction book (2002) -
He felt inarticulate when trying to explain his feelings to her.
Synonyms
11
7.2
Unable to speak clearly because of strong emotion or illness
Not able to speak or write clearly so others understand
Not able to speak smoothly, with slow and broken speech
Not able to find words because of strong feeling
Antonyms
How Articulate
Surface Forms
Morphology
inarticulate = articulate (transparent) = in + articulate
This sense is a straightforward negation of 'articulate', meaning 'not able to speak or express oneself clearly'.
Etymology
Inarticulate begins with in- meaning 'not' and the rest is articulate, a word that came from a root meaning 'to join' and later 'to speak clearly'. So, inarticulate means 'not able to speak clearly', like someone whose words will not join together.