inert
adjective
Synonyms
- dead
- dormant
- fallow
- free
- idle
- inactive
- inoperative
- latent
- off
- unused
- vacant
Example Sentences
Caroline Delbert, Popular Mechanics, 19 July 2022 The purity is worth noting because the mass production of colloidal silver can render the key ingredient inert and unstable. Ahmed Zambarakji, Robb Report, 21 June 2022 And yet, the movie would be inert without a strong supporting cast. Jacob Siegal, BGR, 13 June 2022 Studies have shown that fat cells aren’t inert, but very metabolically active. Alice Park, Time, 3 June 2022 With another movie night out of the question, and the Tesla’s techy features rendered inert, the forest around me came into focus. Maren Larsen, Outside Online, 18 Aug. 2020 Connecticut, the Uvalde massacre has prompted the seemingly inert Senate into negotiations over the shape of potential reforms. David Faris, The Week, 2 June 2022 And its clumsy, inert storytelling seems less interested in converting nonbelievers than in convincing us of Wahlberg’s piety. Washington Post, 13 Apr. 2022 This could have mitigated the political volatility of border crossings, therefore rendering inert Lukashenko’s alleged weapons of ‘hybrid warfare’. Frey Lindsay, Forbes, 28 Jan. 2022 See More Word History
Latin inert-, iners unskilled, idle, from in- + art-, ars skill — more at arm
1647, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Phrases Containing inert
Kids Definition
inert
adjective
Medical Definition
inert
adjective
inert
adjective
Synonyms & Similar Words
- dormant
- off
- unused
- vacant
- idle
- inactive
- dead
- inoperative
- latent
- free
- at rest
- useless
- fallow
- suspended
- lifeless
- out of commission
- unusable
- quiescent
- asleep
- unoccupied
- comatose
- moribund
- on the shelf
- interrupted
- arrested
- slow
- unworkable
- inoperable
- abeyant
- sleepy
- dull
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- active
- operating
- functioning
- operative
- alive
- functional
- busy
- on
- employed
- working
- operational
- workable
- living
- operable
- going
- practical
- useful
- energetic
- industrious
- vigorous
- viable
- running
- usable
- feasible
- assiduous
- useable
- sedulous
Synonyms & Similar Words
- sleepy
- dull
- inactive
- quiescent
- motionless
- torpid
- lethargic
- sluggish
- resting
- lazy
- inanimate
- static
- listless
- apathetic
- dormant
- indolent
- shiftless
- still
- asleep
- slothful
- languorous
- sedentary
- drugged
- ambitionless
- dead
- dopey
- comatose
- slack
- catatonic
- drowsy
- sluggard
- sluggardly
- lazyish
- somnambulant
- dopy
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- active
- engaged
- occupied
- kinetic
- dynamic
- busy
- energetic
- working
- vigorous
- lively
- vital
- animated
- spirited
- vivacious
- sprightly
- bouncing
- perky
- industrious
- springy
- diligent
- assiduous
- peppy
- hardworking
- zippy
- sedulous
Synonym Chooser
Some common synonyms of inert are idle, inactive, passive, and supine. While all these words mean "not engaged in work or activity," inert as applied to things implies powerlessness to move or to affect other things; as applied to persons it suggests an inherent or habitual indisposition to activity.
The words idle and inert can be used in similar contexts, but idle applies to persons that are not busy or occupied or to their powers or their implements.
While in some cases nearly identical to inert, inactive applies to anyone or anything not in action or in operation or at work.
The words passive and inert are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, passive implies immobility or lack of normally expected response to an external force or influence and often suggests deliberate submissiveness or self-control.
While the synonyms supine and inert are close in meaning, supine applies only to persons and commonly implies abjectness or indolence.