小词详解 | inept
SAT TEM8 GMAT GRE
外刊例句
The government’s inept handling of the Kobe disaster did much to undermine Japan’s confidence in itself.
政府对于神户地震的处理失当,很大程度上摧毁了日本应对同类事件的信心。
——《经济学人》From the start, the Trump administration was a dark combination of mean and inept.
从一开始,特朗普的政府就是一个充满恶意与无能的黑暗组合。
——《纽约时报》
基本释义
[adjective] having or showing no skill; clumsy
[形容词] 没有或未展现出技能的;笨拙的
深入解读
inept源自于拉丁语ineptus,由否定前缀in-和aptus(英语apt,恰当、聪颖)构成。inept在指“笨拙的、无能的”时,强调的是彻底缺乏技巧,常见搭配有politically / socially ~(在政治/社交上十分笨拙)。除此之外,inept还可以表示“不合适的,不恰当的”或“不理智的,愚蠢的”,比如傲慢而愚蠢的行为,就可以说“insolent and inept behaviour”。
名人用例
Restaurants are minefields for the socially inept.
饭店是不善社交者的雷区。
出自格雷姆·辛浦生(Graeme Simsion),澳大利亚作家、编剧、剧作家和数据建模师。
同近义词
incompetent: not having the ability to do something as it should be done
inexpert: having or showing a lack of skill or knowledge
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