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Not disposed to action or effort; not diligent or industrious; not busy; idle; as, an inactive officer.

Idleness; habitual indisposition to action or exertion; want of energy; sluggishness. The gloomy inactivity of despair. Cook.

To put in action. [Obs.]

To cause to begin, esp. with formality or solemn ceremony; hence, to set in motion, action, or progress; to initiate; -- used especially of something of dignity or worth or public concern; as, to inaugurate a new era of things, new methods, etc. As if kings did closes remarkable days to inaugurate their favors. Sir H.…

The formal beginning or initiation of any movement, course of action, etc.; as, the inauguration of a new system, a new condition, etc.

Inciting; encouraging or moving; rousing to action; stimulative. Competency is the most incentive to industry. Dr. H. More.

inning; as, an inceptive proposition; an inceptive verb, which expresses the beginning of action; -- called also inchoative. -- In*cep"tive*ly, adv.

That which happens aside from the main design; an accidental or subordinate action or event. No person, no incident, in a play but must be of use to carry on the main design. Dryden.

The act of inciting or moving to action.

To move to action; to stir up; to rouse; to spur or urge on. Anthiochus, when he incited Prusias to join in war, set before him the greatness of the Romans. Bacon. No blown ambition doth our arms incite. Shak.

That which incites the mind, or moves to action; motive; incentive; impulse. Burke. From the long records of a distant age, Derive incitements to renew thy rage. Pope.

Inciting to motion; -- applied to that action which, in the case of muscular motion, commences in the nerve centers, and excites the muscles to contraction. Opposed to excito-motor.

le; not fitting; inconsistent; improper; as, an incongruous remark; incongruous behavior, action, dress, etc. "Incongruous mixtures of opinions." I. Taylor. "Made up of incongruous parts." Macaulay. Incongruous denotes that kind of absence of harmony or suitableness of which the taste and experience of men takes cogniz…

The quality or state of being inconsistent; discordance in respect to sentiment or action; such contrariety between two things that both can not exist or be true together; disagreement; incompatibility. There is a perfect inconsistency between that which is of debt and that which is of free gift. South.…

stency; irreconcilable; discordant; at variance, esp. as regards character, sentiment, or action; incompatible; incongruous; contradictory.

Want of consonance or harmony of sound, action, or thought; disagreement.

vantage; anything that disturbs quiet, impedes prosperity, or increases the difficulty of action or success; as, one inconvenience of life is poverty. A place upon the top of Mount Athos above all clouds of rain, or other inconvenience. Sir W. Raleigh. Man is liable to a great many inconveniences. Tillotson.…

Want of coördination; lack of harmonious adjustment or action. Incoördination of muscular movement (Physiol.), irregularity in movements resulting from inharmonious action of the muscles in consequence of loss of voluntary control over them.

A burdensome and troublesome load; anything that impedes motion or action, or renders it difficult or laborious; clog; impediment; hindrance; check. Cowper.

An indecorous or becoming action. Young.