adept

adjective

Save Word

\ ə-ˈdept

also ˈa-ˌdept

Definition of adept

(Entry 1 of 2)

: thoroughly proficient : expert an adept negotiator He's adept at fixing computers.

adept

noun

ad·ept | \ ˈa-ˌdept

, ə-ˈdept

, a-ˈdept \

Definition of adept (Entry 2 of 2)

: a highly skilled or well-trained individual : expert an adept at chess

Other Words from adept Synonyms & Antonyms Choose the Right Synonym More Example Sentences Learn More about adept

Keep scrolling for more

Other Words from adept

Adjective

adeptly \ ə-ˈdep-(t)lē

, a- \ adverb

She dealt with the changes adeptly.

adeptness \ ə-ˈdep(t)-nəs

, a- \ noun

Choose the Right Synonym for adept

Adjective

proficient, adept, skilled, skillful, expert mean having great knowledge and experience in a trade or profession. proficient implies a thorough competence derived from training and practice. proficient in translating foreign languages adept implies special aptitude as well as proficiency. adept at doing long division skilled stresses mastery of technique. a skilled surgeon skillful implies individual dexterity in execution or performance. skillful drivers expert implies extraordinary proficiency and often connotes knowledge as well as technical skill. expert in the evaluation of wines

Examples of adept in a Sentence

Adjective Madison, Jefferson's lifelong friend, collaborator, and political ally, was quizzical and skeptical. His mind was less capacious and less elevated than Jefferson's, but more … original, and instinctively contrary. Less learned than Jefferson, his verbal skills inferior, he was almost pedantically alert to inner complications, and so, though less adept a politician, he was more consistent. — Bernard Bailyn, To Begin the World Anew, 2003 Three small figurines carved of ivory from mammoth tusks have been found in a cave in southwestern Germany, providing stronger evidence that human ancestors were already adept at figurative art more than 30,000 years ago, an archaeologist is reporting today. — John Noble Wilford, New York Times, 18 Dec. 2003 The Angels exploited center-fielder Bernie Williams's weak throwing arm in the division series against the Yankees and are adept at scampering from first to third on hits to the outfield. — Jack Curry, New York Times, 20 Oct. 2002 Barnum was especially adept at pulling back one curtain after another, keeping the audience in a state of panting uncertainty, perpetually postponing the revelation of what was "really" going on. — Jackson Lears, New Republic, 12 Nov. 2001 He's adept in several languages. he's an adept pitcher, and the team is lucky to have him Noun Once safely back in Paris, and having attained his majority, the poet squandered his inheritance with an adept's fervor … — Nicholas Delbanco, Harper's, September 2004 They recruited computational chemists, software engineers, AI experts, and various other computer adepts, all of whom put their monster minds together to create an automated reasoning system that could inspect vast amounts of chemical data quickly and point the finger at potential new drug compounds. — Ed Regis, Wired, June 2000 even by the standards of Washington, he's an adept at political intrigue and power politics

Recent Examples on the Web: Adjective This isn't exactly new, but the update makes the Assistant even more adept at solving these contextual puzzles. — Julian Chokkattu, Wired, "Google Fixes Two Annoying Quirks in Its Voice Assistant," 28 Apr. 2021 That has caused concern among virologists who note that the virus has been adept at transforming itself with deadly variants, and that in Italy the curve has only recently come under control, and could easily spike back up. — Colleen Barry, chicagotribune.com, "Italy opens again, including Riccardo Muti at La Scala, amid hopes for real economic relaunch," 26 Apr. 2021 In a briefing paper, the NWDC explains that the LCS will be required to be equally adept at two tasks: focused missions and continuing missions. — Jim Wilson, Popular Mechanics, "The Navy's Stealth Strike Force: PM Meets the New Littoral Combat Ship," 22 Apr. 2021 Now, agencies need to be adept to the latest evolution: Virtualization, which involves incorporating virtual reality into marketing strategy. — Avi Dan, Forbes, "Why Marketers Plan To Shed Even Good Agencies In The Coming Months," 20 Apr. 2021 Considering the way defenses shift today, Staley said both tackles have to be equally adept at protecting. — Jeff Miller, Los Angeles Times, "Tackle or corner? Chargers coach Brandon Staley shoots breeze on draft," 8 Apr. 2021 Leaders recruited master teachers already adept at instructing virtually to record five weeks worth of model online lessons with their own students, in grades three through eight, complete with PowerPoint slides and other materials. — Erin Richards, USA TODAY, "Day camps, paying teens to study: Summer school looks different. Will it help kids catch up?," 2 Apr. 2021 For an artist adept at pausing time, Robinson is looking forward to the future. — Latria Graham, Better Homes & Gardens, "Artist Ronni Nicole Robinson Preserves the Beauty of Flowers with Impeccable Detail," 19 Mar. 2021 Post-Emancipation, Black colleges had singing groups adept at performing spirituals tour the United States and Europe to raise funds for their endowments. — New York Times, "Black Spirituals as Poetry and Resistance," 5 Mar. 2021 Recent Examples on the Web: Noun Andela is now accepting applications from senior developers across the continent adept in the most in-demand web frameworks and program languages. — Yomi Kazeem, Quartz Africa, "Andela is expanding across Africa after shutting down its offices and going remote," 1 July 2020 Last season, Brown averaged 20.7 points, 6.2 rebounds and 4.9 assists while proving adept at penetrating and getting to the free throw line. — Bruce Pascoe, azcentral, "Arizona Wildcats basketball gets commitment from Terrell Brown," 6 Apr. 2020 Trump, another New York billionaire adept in handling the hometown press, took particular glee in watching Bloomberg's performance Wednesday, two people who spoke to him said. — Anchorage Daily News, "One Mike Bloomberg spent $340 million on carefully polished ads. The other Mike Bloomberg stepped onstage in Wednesday’s debate.," 21 Feb. 2020 Unlike Greta Gerwig, who reimagined Little Women and gave it a contemporary subtext, de Wilde and Catton deliver a largely faithful and unchallenging adaptation, beautifully staged and sharply acted by a cast adept at balancing wit and romance. — Caryn James, The Hollywood Reporter, "'Emma': Film Review," 3 Feb. 2020 From those who know him well, Calhoun gets high marks as both a smooth operator, adept at making the numbers work, and as a kind of Mr. Fix-It. — Erik Sherman, Fortune, "The Toughest Job in America? Boeing’s New CEO Faces an Epic To-Do List as He Takes the Helm Today," 13 Jan. 2020 The Bills addressed some of Allen’s needs by adding John Brown, a dangerous deep threat, and Cole Beasley, who’s adept at getting open on short and intermediate routes. — Bennie Contrino, Sports Illustrated, "Josh Allen is just a bit of improvement away from being a fantasy football regular.," 14 June 2019 As ever, Mr Putin proved adept at taking advantage of American mistakes. — The Economist, "Russia and Turkey agree to carve up northern Syria," 24 Oct. 2019 Brain activity of the creative adepts and controls was similar when imagining the next 24 hours but to the researchers’ surprise, the creative group alone engaged the dorsomedial default network when imagining events further into the future. — Knvul Sheikh, Scientific American, "Creative Types Reserve a Special Corner of the Brain for Dreaming Big," 22 May 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'adept.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

History and Etymology for adept

Adjective

derivative of adept entry 2

Noun

borrowed from New Latin adeptus "one who has attained a high degree of proficiency (as in alchemy or hermetic philosophy)," going back to Latin, "having attained," past participle of adipīscī "to arrive at, attain," from ad- ad- + apīscī "to seize hold of, obtain," perhaps an inchoative derivative from the base of apere "to join" — more at apt entry 1

Keep scrolling for more