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''apt'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260331180822-00-⌔

apt - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Adjective

apt (comparativeapter or more apt, superlativeaptest or most apt)

  • Suitable; appropriate; fit or fitted; suited.
    • ✤ Synonyms: appropriate, meet, suitable; see also Thesaurus: pertinent, Thesaurus: suitable
    • ✤ an apt metaphor
    • ✤ * apt punishment*
    • ✤ a river […] apt to be forded by a lamb1
    • ✤ While we to Jove the pure libations pay,/Than Jove what apter claims the hallow’d lay?2
  • (of persons or things) Having a habitual tendency; habitually liable or likely; disposed towards.
    • ✤ Synonyms: disposed, inclined, liable, predisposed, tending towards; see also Thesaurus: inclined
    • ✤ This tree, if unprotected, is apt to be stripped of its leaves by a leaf-cutting ant.3
    • ✤ that lofty pity with which prosperous folk are apt to remember their grandfathers4
    • ✤ Since sick people were apt to be present, he could not always depend on a lively young crowd in the same ward with him, and the entertainment was not always good.5
    • ✤ On Wednesday night, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction against a new California law that makes physicians subject to professional discipline for sharing COVID-19 “misinformation” with their patients. U.S. District Judge William B. Shubb concluded that California’s definition of misinformation is unconstitutionally vague, failing to give doctors fair notice of which conduct the statute covers, which is a basic requirement of due process. That vagueness is especially problematic in this context, Shubb said, because it is apt to have a chilling effect on speech protected by the First Amendment.6
  • Ready; especially fitted or qualified (to do something); quick to learn.
    • ✤ Synonyms: fit, prompt, expert, qualified, ready; see also Thesaurus: skilled
    • ✤ a pupil apt to learn
    • ✤ an apt scholar
    • ✤ Fulfill your pleasure. Live a thousand years,/I shall not find myself so apt to die.7

Noun

apt (plural apts)

  • Abbreviation of apartment.
    • ✤ Where our apt used to be they built a fancy condominium high-rise.
      Which at a lowly income none of us could ever really quite afford.      8

Etymology 1

From Old French apte, from Latin aptus (“suitable, fitting”). Either from obsolete apere (“to fasten, to join, to fit”), akin to apisci (“to reach, attain”) (compare with Greek ἅπτειν (áptein, “to fasten”) and Sanskrit आप्त (āpta, “fit”), from आप् (āp, “to reach, attain”)) or from ﹡h₂ep- (“to join, fit (in)”).

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA: /æpt/
  • Audio (General American): 🔊
  • Rhymes: -æpt

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

As with apartment.

Printed 2026-06-28.

(echo:: @ ⌗)

Footnotes

  1. 1678, Antiquitates Christianæ: Or, the History of the Life and Death of the Holy Jesus: […], London: […] E. Flesher, and R. Norton, for R[ichard] Royston, […], →OCLC: ↩

  2. 1755, Callimachus, “The First Hymn of Callimachus. To Jupiter.”, in William Dodd, transl., The Hymns of Callimachus, […], London: […] The translator [William Dodd], […], →OCLC, page 1: ↩

  3. 1874, John Lubbock, Scientific Lectures/On Plants and Insects: ↩

  4. 1886, Frederic Harrison, The Choice of Books: ↩

  5. 1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Soldier in White”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 168: ↩

  6. 2023 January 26, Jacob Sullum, “A Federal Judge Blocks California’s Ban on Medical Advice That Promotes COVID-19 ‘Misinformation’”, in Reason ‎, archived from the original on 1 August 2023: ↩

  7. 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]: ↩

  8. 2010, David Dondero, Just a Baby in Your Momma’s Eyes: ↩

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