unapt

English

Etymology

From Middle English unapt, equivalent to un- +‎ apt.

Adjective

unapt (comparative more unapt, superlative most unapt)

1. (obsolete except in negative phrases) Not apt, inappropriate, unsuited.
   • 1544 (date written; published 1571), Roger Ascham, Toxophilus, the Schole, or Partitions, of Shooting. […], London: […] Thomas Marshe, →OCLC; republished in The English Works of Roger Ascham, […], London: […] R[obert] and J[ames] Dodsley, […], and J[ohn] Newbery, […], 1761, →OCLC, book 1, page 110:

     [N]eyther the love of theyr countrye, the feare of theyr enemyes, the avoydinge of punishment, nor the receyvinge of any profite that might come by it, could make them to be good archers: which be unapte and unfitte thereunto by Gods providence and nature.

   • 1866, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter XVI, in Felix Holt, the Radical […], volume II, Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, page 20:

     “[...] And you have been able to explain the difference between Liberal and Liberal, which, as you and I know, is something like the difference between fish and fish.” / “Your comparison is not unapt, sir,” said Mr. Lyon, still holding his spectacles in his hand, [...]

   • 1878, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Pan’s Pipes”, in Virginibus Puerisque and Other Papers, London: C[harles] Kegan Paul & Co., […], published 1881, →OCLC, page 283:

     Some leap to the strains with unapt foot, and make a halting figure in the universal dance.

   • 1988 July 3, Joe Brown, “MCMIZ”, in The Washington Post‎^[1], Washington, D.C.: The Washington Post Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:

     Maybe it's unfair to link the epic (and epically expensive) "Les Misérables" with fast food. But it's not an entirely unapt allusion, either.

2. (obsolete) Unaccustomed.
   • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii], page 116, column 2:

     I am a Souldier, and vnapt to weepe, / Or to exclaime on Fortunes fickleneſſe.

   • 1817 December 31 (indicated as 1818), [Walter Scott], chapter III, in Rob Roy. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, pages 59–60:

     The glance of fear, rather than surprise, with which she had watched the motion of the tapestry over the concealed door, implied an apprehension of danger which I could not but suppose well grounded, for Diana Vernon was little subject to the nervous emotions of her sex, and totally unapt to fear without actual and rational cause.

Derived terms

• unaptly
• unaptness

 

Anagrams

• Anput, punta, tupan, untap