apt
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /æpt/
rhymes: -æpt
Forms: form: apter
form: more apt
form: aptest
form: most apt
Etymology: From Old French apte, from Latin aptus (“suitable, fitting”). Either from obsolete apere (“to fasten, to join, to fit”), akin to apisci (“to reach, attain”) (compare with Greek ἅπτειν (áptein, “to fasten”) and Sanskrit आप्त (āpta, “fit”), from आप् (āp, “to reach, attain”)) or from *h₂ep- (“to join, fit (in)”).
Senses: examples: text: an apt metaphor
text: apt punishment
text: a river […] apt to be forded by a lamb
ref: 1678, Antiquitates Christianæ: Or, the History of the Life and Death of the Holy Jesus: […], London: […] E. Flesher, and R. Norton, for R[ichard] Royston, […], →OCLC:
text: While we to Jove the pure libations pay, / Than Jove what apter claims the hallow'd lay?
ref: 1755, Callimachus, “The First Hymn of Callimachus. To Jupiter.”, in William Dodd, transl., The Hymns of Callimachus, […], London: […] The translator [William Dodd], […], →OCLC, page 1:
synonyms: word: appropriate
word: meet
word: suitable
word: applicable
word: apposite
word: apt
word: felicitous
word: germane
word: in point
word: material
word: on point
word: on-topic
word: pertinent
word: relevant
word: salient
word: to the point
word: appropriate
word: apropos
word: apposite
word: apt
word: comely
word: commensurate
word: correct
word: decorous
word: expedient
word: felicitous
word: fit
word: fit for purpose
word: fitting
word: gainand
word: idoneous
word: in line
word: likely
word: meet
word: opportune
word: proper
word: right
word: seemly
word: sensible
word: sortable
word: suitable
word: tidy
word: up to standard
glosses: Suitable; appropriate; fit or fitted; suited.
examples: text: This tree, if unprotected, is apt to be stripped of its leaves by a leaf-cutting ant.
ref: 1874, John Lubbock, Scientific Lectures / On Plants and Insects:
text: that lofty pity with which prosperous folk are apt to remember their grandfathers
ref: 1886, Frederic Harrison, The Choice of Books:
text: Since sick people were apt to be present, he could not always depend on a lively young crowd in the same ward with him, and the entertainment was not always good.
ref: 1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Soldier in White”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 168:
text: On Wednesday night, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction against a new California law that makes physicians subject to professional discipline for sharing COVID-19 "misinformation" with their patients. U.S. District Judge William B. Shubb concluded that California's definition of misinformation is unconstitutionally vague, failing to give doctors fair notice of which conduct the statute covers, which is a basic requirement of due process. That vagueness is especially problematic in this context, Shubb said, because it is apt to have a chilling effect on speech protected by the First Amendment.
ref: 2023 January 26, Jacob Sullum, “A Federal Judge Blocks California's Ban on Medical Advice That Promotes COVID-19 'Misinformation'”, in Reason:
synonyms: word: disposed
word: inclined
word: liable
word: predisposed
word: tending towards
word: apt
word: bain
word: disposed
word: fain
word: forward
word: inclined
word: liable
word: minded
word: ready
word: predisposed
word: prone
word: propense
word: wont
glosses: Having a habitual tendency; habitually liable or likely; disposed towards.
raw_tags: of persons or things
examples: text: a pupil apt to learn
text: an apt scholar
text: Fulfill your pleasure. Live a thousand years, / I shall not find myself so apt to die.
ref: 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:
synonyms: word: fit
word: prompt
word: expert
word: qualified
word: ready
word: able
word: artful
word: habile
word: accomplished
word: adept
word: adroit
word: apt
word: capable
word: competent
word: consummate
word: conversant
word: crack
word: crafty
word: deft
word: dexterous
word: expert
word: facile
word: fluent
word: gain
word: handy
word: maestrolike
word: masterful
word: masterlike
word: masterly
word: masterous
word: professional
word: proficient
word: qualified
word: quick
word: ready
word: skilled
word: skillful
word: thoroughbred
word: tight
word: practiced
word: versed
glosses: Ready; especially fitted or qualified (to do something); quick to learn.
Derived terms: adapt
aptagram
aptly
aptness
aptonym
aptronym
overapt
unapt
Related terms: adept
aptitude
attitude
inept