inane

English

WOTD – 23 January 2010

Etymology

From Middle French inane, from Latin inānis (“empty, vain, useless”) which is of unknown origin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪˈneɪn/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪn

Adjective

inane (comparative inaner or more inane, superlative inanest or most inane)

1. Lacking sense or meaning, often to the point of boredom or annoyance.
   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXIX, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 237:

     Francesca followed, reluctant enough in her secret; for though she would not have admitted it even to herself, she did shrink from the infliction of the inane solemnities with which her father garnished his discourse—to say nothing of the ungracious reflections which so often glanced at herself.

   • 2020, Brit Bennett, The Vanishing Half, Dialogue Books, page 156:

     God, if she had to listen to another conversation about some kid she didnʼt know—how Tina J. stole the stage at the talent show or Bobby R. won the tee ball game or any other number of inane accomplishments.

   (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.
   • 1832, [Isaac Taylor], Saturday Evening. […], London: Holdsworth and Ball, →OCLC:

     Vague and inane instincts.

Derived terms

• inanely
• inanity
• uninane

 

Translations

lacking sense or meaning

• Azerbaijani: mənasız (az), məzmunsuz, boş (az)
• Bulgarian: глупав (bg) (glupav), безсмислен (bg) (bezsmislen)
• Catalan: va (ca), vacu
• Czech: hloupý (cs), stupidní (cs)
• Danish: intetsigende (da), åndsforladt
• Dutch: zinloos (nl), inhoudsloos (nl), stom (nl), flauw (nl)
• Finnish: tyhjä (fi), merkityksetön (fi), typerä (fi)
• French: inepte (fr), insensé (fr), niais (fr), inane (fr)
• German: sinnlos (de), albern (de), bedeutungslos (de), sinnfrei (de), inhaltsleer, hohl (de), belanglos (de)
• Maori: heahea
• Norwegian: intetsigende
• Polish: bezmyślny (pl), głupi (pl), beztreściowy, beztreściwy
• Portuguese: inane, vão (pt), vazio (pt), fútil (pt)
• Romanian: fără sens, stupid (ro) m, inept (ro) m
• Russian: глу́пый (ru) (glúpyj), пусто́й (ru) (pustój), бессмы́сленный (ru) (bessmýslennyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: faoin
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: бесмислен

  Roman: besmislen (sh)

• Spanish: sin sentido, absurdo (es), inane (es)
• Swedish: intetsägande (sv), andefattig (sv)

purposeless; pointless

• Azerbaijani: məqsədsiz
• Bulgarian: безцелен (bg) (bezcelen)
• Catalan: vacu
• Czech: bezúčelný (cs), zbytečný (cs), marný (cs)
• Dutch: doelloos (nl)
• French: inane (fr) (rare), inutile (fr), vain (fr)
• Galician: inane (gl)
• German: vergeblich (de), zwecklos (de)
• Italian: inane (it)
• Portuguese: inane
• Romanian: inutil (ro) m
• Russian: бесце́льный (ru) (bescélʹnyj), бессмы́сленный (ru) (bessmýslennyj)
• Spanish: inane (es)

Noun

inane (plural inanes)

1. That which is void or empty.
   • 1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], chapter 2, in An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], →OCLC, book I, page 13:

     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

• -anine, Annie, nenia

Italian

Etymology

From Latin inānis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /iˈna.ne/
• Rhymes: -ane
• Hyphenation: i‧nà‧ne

Adjective

inane (plural inani) (literary)

1. (rare) empty, void, hollow

   Synonyms: (literary) vacuo, vuoto

   Antonyms: colmo, pieno

2. useless, vain, inane

   Synonyms: inconcludente, infruttuoso, inutile, (literary) irrito, vano

   Antonym: utile

Derived terms

• inanità

Further reading

• inane in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Anagrams

• Ienna, nenia

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /iˈnaː.ne/, [ɪˈnäːnɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /iˈna.ne/, [iˈnäːne]

Adjective

ināne

1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular of inānis

Noun

ināne n (genitive inānis); third declension

1. empty space, void, open space
2. emptiness, vanity, inanity

Declension

Third-declension noun (neuter, “pure” i-stem).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	ināne	inānia
Genitive	inānis	inānium
Dative	inānī	inānibus
Accusative	ināne	inānia
Ablative	inānī	inānibus
Vocative	ināne	inānia

References

• “inane”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “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^[1], 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
    

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin inānis.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /iˈnɐ̃.ni/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /iˈnɐ̃.ni/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /iˈnɐ.ne/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /iˈnɐ.nɨ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /iˈnɐ.nɨ/
  • (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /iˈna.nɨ/

• Hyphenation: i‧na‧ne

Adjective

inane m or f (plural inanes)

1. inane (lacking sense or meaning)

   Synonyms: vão, vazio, fútil

Related terms

• inanição

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin inānis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /iˈnane/ [iˈna.ne]
• Rhymes: -ane
• Syllabification: i‧na‧ne

Adjective

inane m or f (masculine and feminine plural inanes)

1. inane; pointless

Related terms

• inanidad

 

Further reading

• “inane”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014