inchoate

UK/ɪnˈkəʊət/US/ɪnˈkoʊət/

adjectiveC2Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #14,447 of 15,258Too rare in one of the two pools to compare — fewer than 20 uses in speech or in writing

Inchoate means only just begun, and not yet properly formed. An inchoate idea, inchoate rage, still inchoate.

In criminal law it names a whole class of offences, since attempt and conspiracy are inchoate crimes where the harm never happened. It is said with the stress on the second syllable and with a k sound.

Definitions of inchoate

1adjectiveinchoateOnly just begun, and not yet properly formed.C2
“He had an inchoate idea for a novel but no plot or characters yet.”

inchoate is a quality.

Where it comes from

Latin incohatus means begun but unfinished, from incohare, to begin.

Latin
incohātus — begun, unfinished
English, today
inchoate

Built from

incohō · Latin — to begin

The adjective is first attested in 1534, the verb circa 1631; Latin incohātus (“begun, unfinished”), perfect passive participle of incohō (“to begin”), see -ate. Cognate with Spanish incoar (“to initiate, commence, begin”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

inchoate in the wild

Attempt is a type of inchoate crime, a crime that is not fully developed.
Attempt
Where illegal, it is known as an inchoate offense, where harm is intended but may or may not have actually occurred.
Incitement
"No longer inchoate" is a phrase used in other contexts as well to convey a more exact meaning.
Choate (law)
Antonyms listed by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary for "inchoate" are "adult", "full-blown", "full-fledged", "mature", "ripe", and "ripened".
Choate (law)
In English criminal law, an inchoate offence is an offence relating to a criminal act which has not, or not yet, been committed.
Inchoate offences in English law

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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