Antonyms for inert
ɪnˈɜrt, ɪˈnɜrtin·ert

English Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. inert

   Idle in all uses rests upon its root meaning, as derived from the Anglo-Saxon idel, which signifies vain, empty, useless. Idle thus denotes not primarily the absence of action, but vain action — the absence of useful, effective action; the idle schoolboy may be very actively whittling his desk or tormenting his neighbors. Doing nothing whatever is the secondary meaning of idle. One may be temporarily idle of necessity; if he is habitually idle, it is his own fault. Lazy signifies indisposed to exertion, averse to labor; idleness is in fact; laziness is in disposition or inclination. A lazy person may chance to be employed in useful work, but he acts without energy or impetus. We speak figuratively of a lazy stream. The inert person seems like dead matter (characterized by inertia), powerless to move; the sluggish moves heavily and toilsomely; the most active person may sometimes find the bodily or mental powers sluggish. Slothful belongs in the moral realm, denoting a self-indulgent aversion to exertion. "The slothful hideth his hand in his bosom; it grieveth him to bring it again to his mouth," Prov. xxvi, 15. Indolent is a milder term for the same quality; the slothful man hates action; the indolent man loves inaction. Compare VAIN.

   Antonyms:
   active, busy, diligent, employed, industrious, occupied, working

   Synonyms:
   idle, inactive, indolent, lazy, slothful, sluggish, trifling, unemployed, unoccupied, vacant

Complete Dictionary of Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. inert

   Antonyms:
   active, energetic, alert, brisk

   Synonyms:
   indolent, slothful, lazy, sluggish, heavy, inactive, passive, dormant

Matched Categories

1. • Chemistry

Princeton's WordNetRate these antonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. inertadjective

   unable to move or resist motion

   Antonyms:
   active, moving, reactive

   Synonyms:
   sluggish, torpid, neutral, soggy, indifferent

2. inert, indifferent, neutraladjective

   having only a limited ability to react chemically; chemically inactive

   "inert matter"; "an indifferent chemical in a reaction"

   Antonyms:
   moving, active, reactive

   Synonyms:
   immaterial, neutral, impersonal, apathetic, electroneutral, deaf(p), so-so(p), unbiassed, soggy, indifferent(p), unbiased, sluggish, torpid, achromatic, indifferent

3. inert, sluggish, soggy, torpidadjective

   slow and apathetic

   "she was fat and inert"; "a sluggish worker"; "a mind grown torpid in old age"

   Antonyms:
   active, moving, reactive

   Synonyms:
   miry, waterlogged, dull, torpid, doughy, sloughy, squashy, swampy, sulky, slow, sluggish, neutral, sloppy, marshy, quaggy, mucky, soggy, indifferent, hibernating(a), boggy, muddy, dormant

How to use inert in a sentence?

1. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:

   Men of genius are often dull and inert in society, as a blazing meteor when it descends to earth, is only a stone.

2. Longfellow:

   Men of genius are often dull and inert in society, as the blazing meteor when it descends to earth is only a stone.

3. Alfred Jarry:

   It is because the public are a mass -- inert, obtuse, and passive -- that they need to be shaken up from time to time so that we can tell from their bear-like grunts where they are -- and also where they stand. They are pretty harmless, in spite of their numbers, because they are fighting against intelligence.

4. Henry Adams:

   Nothing in education is so astonishing as the amount of ignorance it accumulates in the form of inert facts.

5. Police Chief Sam Dotson:

   At at that point, after the crowd ignored repeated requests and directions, inert smoke was used, after that didn't have an effect, tear gas was used.

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