inert
Americanadjective
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having no inherent power of action, motion, or resistance (active ).
inert matter.
- Synonyms:
- motionless, lifeless, unmoving, immobile
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Chemistry. having little or no ability to react, as nitrogen that occurs uncombined in the atmosphere.
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Pharmacology. having no pharmacological action, as the excipient of a pill.
-
inactive or sluggish by habit or nature.
adjective
-
having no inherent ability to move or to resist motion
-
inactive, lazy, or sluggish
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having only a limited ability to react chemically; unreactive
Related Words
See inactive.
Other Word Forms
- inertly adverb
- inertness noun
- noninert adjective
- noninertly adverb
- noninertness noun
- uninert adjective
- uninertly adverb
Etymology
Origin of inert
First recorded in 1640–50; from Latin inert- (stem of iners ) “unskillful,” equivalent to in- in- 3 + -ert-, combining form of art- (stem of ars ) “skill”; art 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The state investigator also requested the X-ray tests that deputies had used to wrongly determine that the two grenades were inert, according to the complaint.
From Los Angeles Times
"We write information into stable, inert materials that can withstand the passage of time and remain fully accessible to future generations."
From Science Daily
In “Two Prosecutors,” the inert nobodies blocking Kornev’s progress are crisply choreographed, Stalin’s existential choke hold strangling their very spirit.
From Los Angeles Times
Purely as entertainment, it is inert; the story, about a family in mourning, features histrionics worthy of grand opera and a level of rudeness that could peel paint.
Philosophy without a biography turns inhuman; biography without a philosophy becomes inert.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
