inarticulate

a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.

an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance.

LEARN MORE UNUSUAL WORDS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

Collins

World English Dictionary

inarticulate (ˌɪnɑːˈtɪkjʊlɪt)

—*adj*
1.	unable to express oneself fluently or clearly; incoherent
2.	(of speech, language, etc) unclear or incomprehensible; unintelligible: inarticulate grunts
3.	unable to speak; dumb
4.	unable to be expressed; unvoiced: inarticulate suffering
5.	biology having no joints, segments, or articulation

inar'ticulately

—*adv*

inar'ticulateness

—n

inar'ticulacy

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

inarticulate

c.1600, "not clear or intelligible" (of speech), from L.L. inarticulatus "indistinct," from in- "not" + articulatus, pp. of articulare (see articulation).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source

American Heritage

Medical Dictionary

inarticulate in·ar·tic·u·late (ĭn'är-tĭk'yə-lĭt)
adj.

Uttered without the use of normal words or syllables; incomprehensible as speech or language.
Unable to speak; speechless.
Unable to speak with clarity or eloquence.
Not having joints or segments.

in'ar·tic'u·late·ness or in'ar·tic'u·la·cy (-lə-sē) n.

Example sentences

Even then, employers say that many graduates emerge inarticulate, unable to

think critically and barely able to read or write.

Contains pyrite laminae and inarticulate brachiopods.

But since he was denied speech, he scorned the inarticulate mouthings of the

lower animals.

Archer sprang to his feet and stood looking down on her in inarticulate despair.

Enjoy Dictionary.com ad-free! Learn more

Related Words

groan crow babble chatter hoot humph

humph moan murmur stammer unvocal

Matching Quote

"To anyone who still feels that there must be an identity of logical form between language and reality, I can only plead that the conception of language as a mirror of reality is radically mistaken. We find out soon enough that the universe is not capricious: the child who learns that fire burns and knife-edges cut knows that there are inexorable limits set upon his desires. Language must conform to the discovered regularities and irregularities of experience. But in order to do so, it is enough that it should be apt for the expression of everything that is or might be the case. To be content with less would be to be satisfied to be inarticulate; to ask for more is to desire the impossible. No roads lead from grammar to metaphysics."

-Max Black