inane
English
WOTD – 23 January 2010
Etymology
From Middle French inane, from Latin inānis (“empty, vain, useless”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɪˈneɪn/
Audio (AU) (file) - Rhymes: -eɪn
Adjective
Translations
lacking sense or meaning
|
purposeless; pointless
|
Noun
inane (plural inanes)
- That which is void or empty.
- Locke
- The undistinguishable inane of infinite space.
- 1881, Robert Louis Stevenson, Virginibus Puerisque:
- [...] whom we watch as we watch the clouds careering in the windy, bottomless inane, or read about like characters in ancient and rather fabulous annals.
- Locke
Latin
Adjective
ināne
References
- inane in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- inane in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
- Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book, London: Macmillan and Co.
- (ambiguous) rich in ideas: sententiis abundans or creber (opp. sententiis inanis)
- (ambiguous) mere words; empty sound: inanis verborum sonitus
- (ambiguous) senseless rant: inanium verborum flumen
- (ambiguous) to be misled by a vain hope: inani, falsa spe duci, induci
- (ambiguous) rich in ideas: sententiis abundans or creber (opp. sententiis inanis)
Portuguese
Adjective
inane m or f (plural inanes, comparable)
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.