inane

Etymology

From Middle French inane, from Latin inānis (“empty, vain, useless”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪˈneɪn/
• Rhymes: -eɪn

Adjective

inane (comparative more inane, superlative most inane)

1. Lacking sense or meaning (often to the point of boredom or annoyance)

   (lacking sense): Synonyms: silly, fatuous, vapid

   This supremely gifted kid told me that in the early elementary grades, the songs sung in music class were so inane that he wanted to skip grades already! Eventually he did, so better late than never.

2. Purposeless; pointless
   • I. Taylor

     Vague and inane instincts.

Noun

inane (plural inanes)

1. 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.

Anagrams

• Annie, nenia

Etymology

From Latin inānis.

Adjective

inane (masculine and feminine plural inani)

1. (literary) useless, vain, inane

   Synonyms: inutile, vano

Anagrams

• nenia

Adjective

ināne

1. nominative neuter singular of inānis
2. accusative neuter singular of inānis
3. vocative neuter singular of inānis

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
    

Etymology

From Latin inānis.

Adjective

inane m, f (plural inanes, comparable)

1. inane (lacking sense or meaning)

   Synonyms: vão, vazio, fútil

Etymology

From Latin inānis.

Adjective

inane (plural inanes)

1. inane; pointless