US /ɪnˈɛlɪɡənt/ UK /ɪnˈɛlɪɡənt/
adj

Meanings

  1. 1
    adj

    lacking grace, refinement, or style

    His solution worked but was clumsy and inelegant.

Thesaurus

Synonyms
1 adj · lacking grace, refinement,... gracelessclumsycrudeunrefinedawkwardgauche
Word family
Forms inelegance
Derived forms inelegantlyinelegance
Related forms elegantelegance

Etymology

From Latin inelegans ('not choice, undiscriminating'), from in- ('not') + elegans ('tasteful, refined'), related to eligere ('to select'), from ex- ('out') + legere ('to choose, gather').

View etymology graph ->

Topics

markdown

Send feedback

Optional — only if you'd like a reply.