inefficient en · ADJ
Pronunciation
- /ˌɪn.ɪˈfɪʃ.ənt/
- (Southern-England) audio
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *né Proto-Indo-European *n̥- Proto-Italic *n̥- Latin in-bor. Middle English in- English in- English efficient English inefficient From in- + efficient.
Meanings
-
Not efficient; not producing the effect intended or desired; inefficacious.
Celery is an inefficient food.
-
Incapable of, or indisposed to, effective action; habitually slack or unproductive; effecting little or nothing.
Jessica was terribly inefficient at cleaning, so her brother usually had to clean the whole room.
an inefficient administrator
[Gorbachev] did not champion perestroika and glasnost alone; much of the nomenklatura had decided that the Soviet economic and social model was dysfunctional, corrupt and endemically inefficient and had to change.
2007 October 13, Will Hutton, “Will China's next leader be its Gorbachev?”, in The Observer, →ISSN, archived from the original on 09 Jan 2025:inefficient workers
The Defense Department, for example, has greatly expanded competitive bidding and is this year submitting to Congress the first-ever 2-year defense budget to replace the old, inefficient, year-by-year process.
1987 January 17, Ronald Reagan, Presidential Radio Address:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| more inefficient | Degree=Cmp | lexicographic | |
| most inefficient | Degree=Sup | lexicographic |
Antonyms
Deriveds
Translations (27)
tr verimsiz (not efficient; not producing the effect intended or desired) · pl niewydolny (not efficient; not producing the effect intended or desired) · sv ineffektiv (not efficient; not producing the effect intended or desired) · sv improduktiv (incapable of, or indisposed to, effective action) · pt ineficiente (not efficient; not producing the effect intended or desired) · bg безрезултатен (not efficient; not producing the effect intended or desired) · pl niewydajny (not efficient; not producing the effect intended or desired) · fr inefficace (not efficient; not producing the effect intended or desired) · bg безполезен (not efficient; not producing the effect intended or desired) · cs neschopný (incapable of, or indisposed to, effective action) · fi aikaansaamaton (incapable of, or indisposed to, effective action) · it inefficiente (not efficient; not producing the effect intended or desired) · cs neefektivní (not efficient; not producing the effect intended or desired) · ro ineficient (not efficient; not producing the effect intended or desired) · ga neamhéifeachtúil (not efficient; not producing the effect intended or desired) · fi saamaton (incapable of, or indisposed to, effective action) · sv verkningslös (incapable of, or indisposed to, effective action) · it inadeguato (not efficient; not producing the effect intended or desired) · ro neeficient (not efficient; not producing the effect intended or desired) · fi tehoton (not efficient; not producing the effect intended or desired) · io nekapabla (incapable of, or indisposed to, effective action) · it inefficace (not efficient; not producing the effect intended or desired) · es ineficiente (not efficient; not producing the effect intended or desired) · bg некадърен (incapable of, or indisposed to, effective action) · bg неспособен (incapable of, or indisposed to, effective action) · it a scartamento ridotto (incapable of, or indisposed to, effective action) · es ineficaz (not efficient; not producing the effect intended or desired)