1
as in uncomfortable
lacking social grace and assurance
inelegant teens still learning how to act at formal events
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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
Thompson’s American accent is something to behold: flat, inelegant, and charmless, which is to say, the opposite of how Thompson usually sounds, and for playing the gay American version of herself, Thompson won the Emmy for Guest Star in a Comedy.
—
Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 5 Sep. 2025
Their ingenious creation — an unlikely combination of spacesuit parts, duct tape, and the suddenly obsolete mission plan — encapsulates the film in an inelegant nutshell.
—Richard Edwards, Space.com, 30 June 2025
And, here’s the kicker, and the most annoying part: They are served in cardboard boxes, which makes eating them at a table inelegant at best.
—Jess Fleming, Twin Cities, 9 May 2025
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
See All Example Sentences for inelegant
Fran Hoepfner, Vulture, 5 Sep. 2025
Their ingenious creation — an unlikely combination of spacesuit parts, duct tape, and the suddenly obsolete mission plan — encapsulates the film in an inelegant nutshell.
—Richard Edwards, Space.com, 30 June 2025
And, here’s the kicker, and the most annoying part: They are served in cardboard boxes, which makes eating them at a table inelegant at best.
—Jess Fleming, Twin Cities, 9 May 2025
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
See All Example Sentences for inelegant
Recent Examples of Synonyms for inelegant
Adjective
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Whether the show is about light slowly creeping in on the longest night or an uncomfortable journey someplace, somewhere, marching bands have only eight minutes to get through to each person’s soul.—
Rachel Royster,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
30 Oct. 2025
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During an organized ghost-hunt weekend in 2018, the 41-year-old Connecticut resident was already feeling uncomfortable during the group’s exploration in the city’s historic downtown of the building that housed the Moon River Brewing Company, which has since closed.—
Aaron Sagers,
CNN Money,
30 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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This means exposing the shoulders, showing too much leg above the knees, or wearing clothing with crude or inappropriate imagery.—
Asia London Palomba,
Travel + Leisure,
25 Oct. 2025
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Section 5 would've set new terms for challenging material that anyone may find inappropriate, and ultimately vest public local officials with the power to issue a final ruling on the dispute.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
23 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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What resulted is one of the most comic, counterproductive, and clumsy episodes in the long history of British efforts to deal with Ireland.—
The New Yorker,
New Yorker,
29 Oct. 2025
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So, how did Musk go from a champion of the internet’s go-to reference resource to this clumsy attempt at killing it?—
Miles Klee,
Rolling Stone,
28 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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The Wild earned a power play for the incorrect challenge but couldn’t extend the lead to 2-0.—
Michael Russo,
New York Times,
31 Oct. 2025
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Trump has also mistakenly claimed that China and Russia are currently testing nuclear weapons and directed the incorrect agency — the Department of War — to resume testing rather than the Department of Energy, which oversees the nation’s nuclear warheads, Sanders-Zakre said.—
Joshua Rhett Miller,
MSNBC Newsweek,
30 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Insert one very awkward stalemate between the pair here.—
Emlyn Travis,
Entertainment Weekly,
31 Oct. 2025
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Lisa Frankenstein centers on awkward and antisocial high schooler Lisa Swallows (Kathryn Newton) after the violent demise of her mother.—
Bailey Richards,
PEOPLE,
31 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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This closeness causes gravitational instability that existing planetary formation models have suggested should result in an environment unsuitable for planet formation.—
Robert Lea,
Space.com,
27 Oct. 2025
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They were placed there by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife after being deemed unsuitable for wild release.—
Khloe Quill,
FOXNews.com,
26 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Across its run, The Witcher has traced the uneasy bond between Geralt of Rivia (Liam Hemsworth), the monster hunter bound by destiny; Ciri (Freya Allan), the princess whose power could save or destroy worlds; and Yennefer (Anya Chalotra), the sorceress torn between ambition and love.—
JP Mangalindan,
Time,
30 Oct. 2025
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In the Odyssey, Homer depicts Helen and Menelaus’s reunion as uneasy and sometimes tearful, after years of estrangement.—
Elizabeth D. Samet,
Foreign Affairs,
29 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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After Frost’s retirement in 2001, with conglomerates having become deeply unfashionable, other parts of the company were sold and Hays became a focused staffing and recruitment business.—
Ian King,
CNBC,
8 Oct. 2025
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Whatever Gentiles might have thought in private, the Nazis had made overt antisemitism unfashionable, even odious.—
Ian Buruma,
New Yorker,
22 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Inelegant.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/inelegant. Accessed 4 Nov. 2025.
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