Inchoate

5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Inchoate \In"cho*ate\, a. [L. inchoatus, better incohatus, p. p.
     of incohare to begin.]
     Recently, or just, begun; beginning; partially but not fully
     in existence or operation; existing in its elements;
     incomplete. -- {In"cho*ate*ly}, adv.
     [1913 Webster]


  
           Neither a substance perfect, nor a substance inchoate.
                                                    --Raleigh.
     [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Inchoate \In"cho*ate\, v. t.
     To begin. [Obs.] --Dr. H. More.
     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  inchoate
       adj : only partly in existence; imperfectly formed; "incipient
             civil disorder"; "an incipient tumor"; "a vague
             inchoate idea" [syn: {incipient}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  152 Moby Thesaurus words for "inchoate":
     abecedarian, aboriginal, aimless, aleatoric, aleatory, amorphic,
     amorphous, anarchic, antenatal, autochthonous, baggy, beginning,
     blobby, blurred, blurry, broad, budding, capricious, casual,
     chance, chancy, chaotic, characterless, confused, creative,
     desultory, disarticulated, disconnected, discontinuous, disjointed,
     disjunct, disordered, disorderly, dispersed, disproportionate,
     elemental, elementary, embryonic, erratic, featureless, fetal,
     fitful, foggy, formative, formless, foundational, frivolous,
     fundamental, fuzzy, general, gestatory, gratuitous, haphazard,
     hazy, hit-or-miss, ill-defined, immethodical, imprecise, in embryo,
     in its infancy, in the bud, inaccurate, inaugural, inceptive,
     inchoative, incipient, incoherent, incunabular, indecisive,
     indefinable, indefinite, indeterminable, indeterminate,
     indiscriminate, indistinct, inexact, infant, infantile, inform,
     initial, initiative, initiatory, introductory, inventive,
     irregular, kaleidoscopic, kindred, lax, loose, lumpen, meaningless,
     misshapen, misty, nascent, natal, nondescript, nonspecific,
     nonsymmetrical, nonsystematic, nonuniform, obscure, orderless,
     original, parturient, planless, postnatal, pregnant, prenatal,
     primal, primary, prime, primeval, primitive, primogenial,
     procreative, promiscuous, random, rudimental, rudimentary,
     senseless, shadowed forth, shadowy, shapeless, spasmodic, sporadic,
     stochastic, straggling, straggly, sweeping, systemless, unarranged,
     unclassified, unclear, undefined, undestined, undetermined,
     undirected, ungraded, unjoined, unmethodical, unordered,
     unorganized, unplain, unsorted, unspecified, unsymmetrical,
     unsystematic, ununiform, ur, vague, veiled, wandering
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  INCHOATE. That which is not yet completed or finished. Contracts are 
  considered inchoate until they are executed by all the parties who ought to 
  have executed them. For example, a covenant which purports to be tripartite, 
  and is executed by only two of the parties, is incomplete, and no one is 
  bound by it. 2 Halst. 142. Vide Locus paenitentiae.