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adept

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noun

Synonym Chooser

How is the word adept distinct from other similar adjectives?

Some common synonyms of adept are expert, proficient, skilled, and skillful. While all these words mean "having great knowledge and experience in a trade or profession," adept implies special aptitude as well as proficiency.

adept at doing long division

When is it sensible to use expert instead of adept?

While in some cases nearly identical to adept, expert implies extraordinary proficiency and often connotes knowledge as well as technical skill.

expert in the evaluation of wines

When is proficient a more appropriate choice than adept?

In some situations, the words proficient and adept are roughly equivalent. However, proficient implies a thorough competence derived from training and practice.

proficient in translating foreign languages

In what contexts can skilled take the place of adept?

The words skilled and adept can be used in similar contexts, but skilled stresses mastery of technique.

a skilled surgeon

When might skillful be a better fit than adept?

The meanings of skillful and adept largely overlap; however, skillful implies individual dexterity in execution or performance.

skillful drivers

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of adept
Adjective
Nique Clifford, senior guard, Colorado State (CBS Sports, NBC Sports, Bleacher Report): The 6-5 guard is adept at several aspects, although perhaps not quite a master of any. Ira Winderman, Sun Sentinel, 19 June 2025 June 14, 2018 Abbott is especially adept at rendering the hot, messy inner lives of young people and at making a book’s backstory as suspenseful as the narrative engine that drives the plot. Jim Ruland, Los Angeles Times, 19 June 2025
Noun
Perhaps Sheridan’s greatest magic trick occurs on Landman, where the adept acting of Billy Bob Thornton and Jon Hamm make the case that Thornton’s oil-field fixer and Hamm’s billionaire are the true American martyrs. Stephen Rodrick, Rolling Stone, 9 Mar. 2025 Around him, dense as a swarm of tiny insects, float tiny images of fellow adepts engaged in all manner of outré shenanigans. Holland Cotter, New York Times, 26 Dec. 2024 See All Example Sentences for adept
Recent Examples of Synonyms for adept
Adjective
  • Before June 8, the skilled and respected ABC News television journalist Terry Moran was neither a household name nor political lightning rod.
    Steven Levy, Wired News, 27 June 2025
  • The necessary conditions are in place: computational power, broad access to distribution channels, a growing pool of skilled talent and rising global demand.
    Vlad Panin, Forbes.com, 27 June 2025
Noun
  • Although state wildlife agencies and experts have noted that black bear attacks remain extremely rare, interactions in recent years have drawn national attention.
    Thao Nguyen, USA Today, 27 June 2025
  • Legal experts say the ruling expands religious freedom rights and breaks from previous court precedent.
    Solcyré Burga, Time, 27 June 2025
Adjective
  • Yet the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reveals that 69% of eighth graders are not proficient in reading, and 73% are not proficient in math.
    Jeanne Allen, Forbes.com, 19 June 2025
  • Mice also are incredibly proficient at reproducing: Gestation takes just a few weeks, with six to 12 pups per litter and up to eight litters per year.
    Arricca Elin SanSone, Southern Living, 19 June 2025
Noun
  • The Skokie native works at Google and recently graduated from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management with a master’s degree in business administration, according to her campaign.
    Olivia Olander, Chicago Tribune, 24 June 2025
  • Twelve percent have master’s degrees or higher, compared with 14% nationally.
    Jeff A. Chamer, Charlotte Observer, 24 June 2025
Adjective
  • Finnegans Wake, in his skillful hands, is a tapestry of all the works Joyce ever wrote, the final and protracted project of a writer who could never stop thinking about Ireland.
    Eric Bulson, The Atlantic, 16 June 2025
  • Their smart, aggressive defense disorients even the smoothest spacing and the most skillful shooters.
    Steven Louis Goldstein, New York Times, 18 May 2025
Noun
  • The paper was published last month by a team of computer scientists and legal scholars from Stanford, Cornell, and West Virginia University.
    ArsTechnica, ArsTechnica, 20 June 2025
  • But some, including legal scholars from New York University’s Brennan Center, have argued a potential loophole exists unless Congress bans using the National Guard to enforce the law in other states without gubernatorial consent.
    Davis Winkie, USA Today, 19 June 2025
Adjective
  • Today someone older or more experienced might have advice for you.
    Georgia Nicols, Denver Post, 27 June 2025
  • When unusual circumstances arise, experienced loan officers should make the calls.
    Ashish Garg, Forbes.com, 27 June 2025
Noun
  • He’s been a glamorous Visual Kei rock star, a classical composer, a virtuoso behind the drum kit, a producer and label owner and entrepreneur, and now, more than ever, an impresario.
    Steve Appleford, Variety, 17 June 2025
  • Little Feat, the archetypal ’70s band originally formed by Lowell George — a guitar virtuoso fired from the Mothers of Invention by Frank Zappa — has survived years of breakups, drug problems and even George’s untimely death in 1979.
    Dave Brooks, Billboard, 3 Apr. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Adept.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/adept. Accessed 4 Jul. 2025.

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