1
as in dormant
not being in a state of use, activity, or employment
the inert, abandoned factories that are scattered all over that dying city
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in sleepy
slow to move or act
a sleepy, inert reptile that is no threat to people when left alone
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of inert
My Secret Santa feels, reassuringly, most like the Netflix Christmas movies of yore — inert, featureless, a dispatch from the void.
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Rachel Handler, Vulture, 9 Dec. 2025
The public sector across the world can often seem bloated and inert.
—Adrian Wooldridge, Twin Cities, 6 Dec. 2025
These are inert and do not react with the wine.
—Kait Hanson, Southern Living, 21 Nov. 2025
Flight tests of inert nuclear bombs occur periodically as part of routine certification and modernization efforts.
—Sam Stevenson, MSNBC Newsweek, 15 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for inert
Recent Examples of Synonyms for inert
Adjective
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As the mercury plummets and back-to-work blues set in for much of humankind in the UK, many other creatures are cosily spending winter in a blissfully dormant state of hibernation.—
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Cornerbacks Kristian Fulton and Nohl Williams were among the Chiefs’ best players for a second consecutive week as both helped shut down a dormant Raiders pass game.—
Adjective
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Signs to treat fevers include being unusually sleepy, cranky and refusing food and drinks.—
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Trancoso, Bahia The opening of Uxua Casa Hotel & Spa in 2009 transformed the sleepy fishing village of Trancoso into a boho-chic hot spot.—
Adjective
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Using his off hand, Brown spun the ball off the glass and through the hoop while Shead fouled him.—
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In November 2022, the four college students were found stabbed to death in an off-campus home in the small community of Moscow, Idaho.—
Adjective
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Contributor Yelena Moroz Alpert finds Brooklinen’s prints a good midway point between something too chintzy or something too dull, and thinks highly of the material as well.—
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The fiber’s irregular length distribution—with 50 percent at 28 millimeters and 50 percent in the 10 to 20 millimeter range—delivers a textured, semi-dull and opaque aesthetic that achieves a genuine, vintage washdown performance.—
Adjective
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Officials believe the fire started in the occupied home and spread to the vacant home next door.—
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No public update on the project has been released since 2023, and the land remains vacant.—
Adjective
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In contrast, the north-pole was thought to be geologically inactive.—
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The rest, four of which are now inactive, were in Texas, North Carolina, Missouri, Georgia, Michigan and Indiana.—
Adjective
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Dumas has worked for Valero for four years but just moved to the Benicia location from Arizona a year ago, just a few months before the energy company announced a possible plan to cease or idle operations.—
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One such power line, the century-old Mesa-Sylmar, owned by SoCal Edison, had been idle for some fifty years.—
Adjective
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But the astronomers suspect this kind of bursty young galaxy in the early universe may someday evolve into what's known as a massive quiescent galaxy in the modern-day cosmos.—
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All of that water weight exerts a steady downward pressure, suppressing rifting and magma flow, and keeping the subterranean region relatively quiescent.—
Cite this Entry
“Inert.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/inert. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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