Synonyms for inoperative
- adjective
Most common
broken useless inactive ineffectual defunct unavailing nugatory nonworking
All synonyms
Adjective
Definitions
- adj. 1
Not working or functioning; either idle or broken.
Related words
- Word family
- inoperativeness
Example sentences
- broken He got his arm broken while he was playing soccer.
- useless There's nothing in here but a lot of useless junk.
- inactive This volcano has been inactive for hundreds of years.
- ineffectual My efforts seemed ineffectual.
- defunct Tom lives down the road from a defunct granary.
- unavailing All efforts have been unavailing.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| inoperative | falling | |
| broken | rising | |
| useless | steady | |
| inactive | falling | |
| ineffectual | steady | |
| defunct | steady |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 3 letters
- bad1
- 4 letters
- vain1
- 6 letters
- broken2, futile2
- 7 letters
- useless2, defunct2, crocked
- 8 letters
- inactive3, nugatory4
- 10 letters
- unavailing4, nonworking
- 11 letters
- ineffectual5
- 13 letters
- inefficacious, inoperational
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (broken2 = 2 syllables).
In other languages
- Français
- inopérant
- Deutsch
- wirkungslos