inarticulate

• POS: Adjective
• HYPHEN: in=ar=tic=u=late

CIDE DICTIONARY

inarticulate, a. [L. inarticulatus; pref. in- not + articulatus articulate.].

•  Not uttered with articulation or intelligible distinctness, as speech or words.  [1913 Webster]

  "Music which is inarticulate poesy."  [1913 Webster]
•  Not jointed or articulated; having no distinct body segments; as, an inarticulate worm.  [1913 Webster]
•  Incapable of articulating.  [1913 Webster]

  "The poor earl, who is inarticulate with palsy."
•  Incapable of expressing one's ideas or feelings clearly.  [PJC]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

inarticulate, adj.
1 unable to speak distinctly or express oneself clearly.
2 (of speech) not articulate; indistinctly pronounced.
3 dumb.
4 esp. Anat. not jointed.

Derivative

inarticulately adv. inarticulateness n.

Etymology

LL inarticulatus (as IN-(1), ARTICULATE)

THESAURUS

inarticulate

Greek to one, ambiguous, anaudic, aphasic, aphonic, bashful, beyond understanding, blurred, breathless, breathy, choked, choking, confused, conscious, coy, croaking, demure, digressive, discursive, disjointed, drawling, drawly, dumb, dumbfounded, dumbstricken, dumbstruck, dysphonic, faltering, garbled, guttural, halting, harsh, hawking, hesitating, hoarse, illogical, impenetrable, implicit, implied, incognizable, incoherent, incomprehensible, indistinct, inferred, inscrutable, irrational, jumbled, lisping, maundering, mispronounced, mixed-up, mousy, muddled, muffled, mum, mumbled, mumbling, mute, muzzy, nasal, numinous, past comprehension, quavering, rambling, scrambled, self-conscious, shaking, shaky, shamefaced, shamefast, shy, silent, skittish, snuffling, speechless, stammering, stifled, strangled, stricken dumb, thick, throaty, timid, timorous, tongue-tied, tongueless, tremulous, twangy, unclear, unconnected, undeclared, unexpressed, unfathomable, unintelligible, unknowable, unsaid, unsearchable, unspoken, unuttered, velar, voiceless, wild, wordless

ROGET THESAURUS

inarticulate

Aphony

N aphony, aphonia, dumbness, obmutescence, absence of voice, want of voice, dysphony, cacoepy, silence, raucity, harsh voice &c, unmusical voice, falsetto, childish treble mute, dummy, aphonous, dumb, mute, deafmute, deaf and dumb, mum, tongue-tied, breathless, tongueless, voiceless, speechless, wordless, mute as a fish, mute as a stockfish, mute as a mackerel, silent, muzzled, inarticulate, inaudible, croaking, raucous, hoarse, husky, dry, hollow, sepulchral, hoarse as a raven, rough, with bated breath, with the finger on the lips, sotto voce, in a low tone, in a cracked voice, in a broken voice, vox faucibus haesit.

Stammering

N stammering, inarticulateness, stammering, hesitation, impediment in one's speech, titubancy, traulism, whisper, lisp, drawl, tardiloquence, nasal tone, nasal accent, twang, falsetto, broken voice, broken accents, broken sentences, brogue, slip of the tongue, lapsus linouae, stammering, inarticulate, guttural, nasal, tremulous, affected, sotto voce.