Inefficient Meaning
/ˌɪn.ɪˈfɪʃ.ənt/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjNot efficient; not producing the effect intended or desired; inefficacious.
adjIncapable of, or indisposed to, effective action; habitually slack or unproductive; effecting little or nothing.
Sentence Examples
The program's memory management was so inefficient that it actually damaged the RAM somehow!
Trying to beat some kid's high score is an inefficient use of your time.
That's a very inefficient way to do that.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
CEFR Practice Quiz
The old heating system was ____, wasting a huge amount of energy.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The old heating system is very ____ and costs a lot of money to run during the winter months.
Word Origin & History
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.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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:
"[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:
"A general shaking up of the workers from top to bottom would result; and when equilibrium had been restored, the number of the inefficients at the bottom of the Abyss would have been increased by hundreds of thousands."
— 1903, Jack London, The People of the Abyss, Chapter 17:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The old heating system was ____, wasting a huge amount of energy.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The old heating system is very ____ and costs a lot of money to run during the winter months.