1
as in uncomfortable
lacking social grace and assurance
inelegant teens still learning how to act at formal events
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in inappropriate
marked by an obvious lack of style or good taste
inelegant furniture that looked like it belonged in a budget motel
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of inelegant
The obvious fix is a little bit of duct tape, an inelegant but quick repair with a resource that most households already have on hand.
—
PC Magazine, 26 Mar. 2025
For such an inelegant behavior to be in chatbots as widespread and popular as GPT is a blunt reminder of two larger, seemingly contrary phenomena.
—Jonathan L. Zittrain, The Atlantic, 17 Dec. 2024
The result has been a competition that has felt, at times, unwieldy and inelegant and exhausting.
—Sam Lee, The Athletic, 12 Dec. 2024
That process is genial and inelegant in equal measure.
—David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 17 Oct. 2024
See All Example Sentences for inelegant
PC Magazine, 26 Mar. 2025
For such an inelegant behavior to be in chatbots as widespread and popular as GPT is a blunt reminder of two larger, seemingly contrary phenomena.
—Jonathan L. Zittrain, The Atlantic, 17 Dec. 2024
The result has been a competition that has felt, at times, unwieldy and inelegant and exhausting.
—Sam Lee, The Athletic, 12 Dec. 2024
That process is genial and inelegant in equal measure.
—David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 17 Oct. 2024
See All Example Sentences for inelegant
Recent Examples of Synonyms for inelegant
Adjective
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Because here’s the uncomfortable truth: Most marketing ROI is based on incomplete data and backward-looking models that oversimplify human behavior.—
Gully Flowers,
Forbes.com,
5 June 2025
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Bloating Bloating is a common and often uncomfortable feeling of stomach fullness or tightness.—
T'Keyah Bazin,
Verywell Health,
4 June 2025
Adjective
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There can be a change to the list if a storm is so deadly or costly that the future use of its name on another would be inappropriate.—
Jordan King,
MSNBC Newsweek,
3 June 2025
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Both the city’s account and Mayor Quinton Lucas issued online apologies that night, agreeing that the post was inappropriate.—
Mike Hendricks,
Kansas City Star,
3 June 2025
Adjective
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The clumsy use of voice-overs is more embarrassing still.—
Charles McNulty,
Los Angeles Times,
6 June 2025
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In the latest, a clumsy but charming young woman in Paris, struggling to become a writer and longing for Jane Austen-style romance, finally has her moment at a Jane Austen Writers’ Residency in England.—
Jill Goldsmith,
Deadline,
25 May 2025
Adjective
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The senators are incorrect three times, and surely more.—
John Tamny,
Forbes.com,
2 June 2025
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But here’s the twist: both might technically be incorrect.—
Simon Perry,
People.com,
27 May 2025
Adjective
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From awkward silences to unresolved tensions, most of us would rather scroll, text, or disappear than risk a moment of raw, honest connection.—
Margie Warrell,
Forbes.com,
6 June 2025
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The feelings of being sweaty, red-faced and kind of awkward is very familiar to me.—
Mark Olsen,
Los Angeles Times,
5 June 2025
Adjective
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Any useless, toxic or otherwise unsuitable man can become a child’s legal father, without being subject to the thorough checks that these women must face.—
Catherine Bray,
Variety,
23 May 2025
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Advertisement Advertisement Some insects are adapting to changing climates by moving to regions that might have previously been unsuitable.—
Simmone Shah,
Time,
20 May 2025
Adjective
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In the wake of multiple plane crashes, and amid erratic federal policies and denials and detentions at border crossings, summer travel in the U.S. is in an uneasy state.—
Kevinisha Walker,
Los Angeles Times,
2 June 2025
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The opening moments cement its tonal dissonance as, with a twang of Daniel Kowalski’s spare, uneasy score, a brief prologue with fire, a flailing figure and mutterings about Satan snaps to a far more banal view of an empty street lined with dim, shuttered houses under a low, gray sky.—
Jessica Kiang,
Variety,
30 May 2025
Adjective
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The movie takes its title for the unfashionable floater of a nearly unhittable pitch, long, high and vexing.—
Michael Phillips,
Chicago Tribune,
20 Mar. 2025
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King-Hammond suggested yet another factor: his focus on people, and not formalist ideas, was unfashionable in the eyes of art history’s shapers.—
Alex Greenberger,
ARTnews.com,
25 Feb. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Inelegant.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/inelegant. Accessed 14 Jun. 2025.
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