as in mute
unable to speak
the sudden rumblings of an earthquake rendered people inarticulate with fear
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Recent Examples of inarticulate
In its least manageable moments, early motherhood must feel like an unpaid job with no breaks, an inarticulate boss and working conditions designed to strip all that’s civil from one’s sense of self.
—
Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times, 6 Dec. 2024
An inarticulate protagonist—a protagonist who isn’t much given to verbally analyzing his own experience—seemed to provide an opportunity to approach things another way, indirectly or suggestively.
—Dennis Zhou, The New Yorker, 1 Dec. 2024
At the climax of this bizarre collection of movements S… would let out a harsh, inarticulate cry.
—Caitlyn Murphy, Hazlitt, 13 Nov. 2024
From this, and similarly strong but inarticulate reactions, Haidt concluded that the students had arrived at their judgments impulsively.
—Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker, 13 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for inarticulate
Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times, 6 Dec. 2024
An inarticulate protagonist—a protagonist who isn’t much given to verbally analyzing his own experience—seemed to provide an opportunity to approach things another way, indirectly or suggestively.
—Dennis Zhou, The New Yorker, 1 Dec. 2024
At the climax of this bizarre collection of movements S… would let out a harsh, inarticulate cry.
—Caitlyn Murphy, Hazlitt, 13 Nov. 2024
From this, and similarly strong but inarticulate reactions, Haidt concluded that the students had arrived at their judgments impulsively.
—Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker, 13 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for inarticulate
Recent Examples of Synonyms for inarticulate
Adjective
-
The online donations poured in alongside notes expressing far-right and racist sympathies, prompting a decision to mute comments by the Christian crowdfunding service hosting the campaign, which has been used to raise money for Daniel Penny, Luigi Mangione and Kyle Rittenhouse.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
5 May 2025
-
Doctors had braced Gianna's parents for the possibility that their daughter might be blind, mute or unable to swallow as the tumor pressed down on the vital nerves of her brain stem.—
Christopher Cann,
USA Today,
25 Apr. 2025
Adjective
-
In helicopter video taken by Air Maui Helicopter Tours in Lahaina and posted online the people aboard are largely speechless.—
Phil Helsel,
NBC News,
10 Aug. 2023
-
Because his work, as is often the case, leaves us almost speechless.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
10 Jan. 2023
Cite this Entry
“Inarticulate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/inarticulate. Accessed 22 May. 2025.
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