English Dictionary

INCONVENIENT

Pronunciation (US): Play  (GB): Play

IPA (US): 

 Dictionary entry overview: What does inconvenient mean? 

INCONVENIENT (adjective)
  The adjective INCONVENIENT has 2 senses:

1. not suited to your comfort, purpose or needsplay

2. not conveniently timedplay

  Familiarity information: INCONVENIENT used as an adjective is rare.


 Dictionary entry details 


INCONVENIENT (adjective)


Sense 1

Meaning:

Not suited to your comfort, purpose or needs

Context example:

the back hall is an inconvenient place for the telephone

Similar:

awkward (causing inconvenience)

Attribute:

convenience (the quality of being useful and convenient)

Antonym:

convenient (suited to your comfort or purpose or needs)

Derivation:

inconvenience (the quality of not being useful or convenient)


Sense 2

Meaning:

Not conveniently timed

Context example:

an early departure is inconvenient for us

Similar:

inopportune (not opportune)


 Context examples 


We have carriages to fetch and convey her home, and we live in a style which could not make the addition of Jane Fairfax, at any time, the least inconvenient.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

“Yes, that is very inconvenient indeed,” said Mr. Bertram.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

It might possibly be inconvenient to me if you could find your way there again.’

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was very strange that he should come to Longbourn instead of to Lucas Lodge; it was also very inconvenient and exceedingly troublesome.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

A question about how convenient or inconvenient it is to take a medication as instructed.

(Convenience of Taking Medication as Instructed, NCI Thesaurus)

It may be very inconvenient some years to spare a hundred, or even fifty pounds from our own expenses.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

When the parting came he affected high spirits, to conceal certain inconvenient emotions which seemed inclined to assert themselves.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

That would obviously be inconvenient and unpleasant to the customers, besides entailing on the Blue Whatever-it-was, the risk of funeral expenses.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Mrs Musgrove was giving Mrs Croft the history of her eldest daughter's engagement, and just in that inconvenient tone of voice which was perfectly audible while it pretended to be a whisper.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

It must be inconvenient to be made of flesh, said the Scarecrow thoughtfully, for you must sleep, and eat and drink.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)



 Learn English with... Proverbs 
"He who hesitates is lost." (English proverb)

"The one who tells the stories rules the world." (Native American proverb, Hopi)

"Lies are the plague of speech." (Arabic proverb)

"The maquis has no eyes, but it sees all." (Corsican proverb)



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