inchoate

adjective

in·​cho·​ate in-ˈkō-ət 

ˈin-kə-ˌwāt

1

a

: being only partly in existence or operation : incipient

especially : imperfectly formed or formulated : formless, incoherent

… misty, inchoate suspicions that all is not well with the nation …

—J. M. Perry

b

law : not yet transformed into actual use or possession

Until an employee has earned his retirement pay … his retirement pay is but an inchoate right …

—Peterson v. Fire & Police Pension Ass'n, 759 P.2d 720 (1988)

2

law : of or relating to a crime (as conspiracy) which consists of acts that are preliminary to another crime and that are in themselves criminal

inchoately adverb

inchoateness noun

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When should you use inchoate?

Inchoate is most often used to describe something that is not, or not yet, completely formed or developed. It's a formal word that's sure to add pizzazz to any conversation—but only if you start working on pronouncing it correctly. The first two letters of inchoate do what you’d expect—exactly what the word in does. However, the choate in inchoate does not share the first sound of chair, nor does it rhyme with oat. Instead, it shares the first sound of cat, and rhymes with poet. Inchoate came to English in the 16th century from the Latin adjective incohātus, meaning "only begun, unfinished, imperfect," which in turn comes from a form of the verb incohāre, meaning "to start work on."

Synonyms of inchoate

• nascent
• initial
• incipient
• first

Examples of inchoate in a Sentence

inchoate feelings of affection for a man whom she had, up till now, thought of as only a friend

Recent Examples on the Web

Jeremy Allen White, who always seems to do inchoate torment so well, makes a fine Springsteen. —Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 24 Oct. 2025

Although only five minutes in length, The Magic Lantern gives us a momentary glimpse of the magic of cinema as a burgeoning medium and the inchoate experimentation that accompanied its first decades as a studio invention. —Erik Morse, Vogue, 23 Oct. 2025

Meanwhile, the people defacing Friend’s advertisements are expressing a much larger, inchoate rage at the broader AI industry, not just these plastic pendants that practically nobody owns. —Matteo Wong, The Atlantic, 6 Oct. 2025

The passions and dreams that drove the movement can seem inchoate, naïve, and contradictory. —Literary Hub, 25 Sep. 2025

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Latin incohātus, inchoātus "only begun, unfinished, imperfect," from past participle of incohāre "to start work on, begin, initiate," perhaps, if the original sense was "to yoke a plow to a team of oxen," from in- in- entry 2 + -cohāre, verbal derivative of cohum "hollow in the middle of a yoke into which a pole is fitted" or "strap used to attach the pole to the yoke," of uncertain origin

Note: The word cohum is known only from the work of the grammarians varro and Sextus Pompeius Festus, and their definitions may have been influenced by the presumed etymologies. Varro, who took the word to mean "hollow in the middle of a yoke" ("sub jugo medio cavum"), may have associated it with cavum "cavity, hole," which he uses as the genus term. Festus, who defines it as a strap or thong (lorum), associates it with cohibēre "to hold together, keep in place." If these meanings are correct, cohum may be linked to a putative western Indo-European verbal base *kag^h- "grasp, enclose" (see note at haw entry 1), with an o of secondary origin. But given the lack of textual evidence for cohum, any etymology must remain speculative.

First Known Use

1534, in the meaning defined at sense 1(a)

Rhymes for inchoate

• anecdote
• antidote
• asymptote
• creosote
• dimethoate
• epidote
• ferryboat
• motorboat
• overcoat
• petticoat
• riverboat
• undercoat

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Legal Definition

inchoate

adjective

in·​cho·​ate in-ˈkō-ət, ˈiŋ-kō-ˌāt 

1

a

: not yet made complete, certain, or specific : not perfected see also inchoate lien at lien

b

: not yet transformed into actual use or possession

until an employee has earned his retirement pay…[it] is but an inchoate right

—Peterson v. Fire & Police Pension Ass'n, 759 P.2d 720 (1988)

2

: of or relating to a crime (as attempt, solicitation, or conspiracy) which consists of acts that are preliminary to another crime and that are in themselves criminal compare choate