- not effective; not producing the desired effect; ineffectual: an ineffective plan
- not capable of performing satisfactorily; incompetent; inefficient: an ineffective mayor
adjective
The definition of ineffective is something or someone that does not succeed at accomplishing or moving towards a goal.
When you make an effort to clean up but you do not end up actually cleaning anything at all, this is an example of an effort that would be described as ineffective.
YourDictionary definition and usage example. Copyright © 2018 by LoveToKnow Corp
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"ineffective." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 20 February 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Ineffective>.
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ineffective. (n.d.). Retrieved February 20th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Ineffective
ineffective
Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fifth Edition Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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MLA Style
"ineffective." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 20 February 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Ineffective>.
APA Style
ineffective. (n.d.). Retrieved February 20th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Ineffective
ineffective
adjective
- Not producing an intended effect; ineffectual: an ineffective plea.
- Inadequate; incompetent: an ineffective teacher.
Related Forms:
- in′ef·fec′tive·ly
adverb
- in′ef·fec′tive·ness
noun
THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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Cite this page
MLA Style
"ineffective." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 20 February 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Ineffective>.
APA Style
ineffective. (n.d.). Retrieved February 20th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Ineffective
Adjective
(comparative more ineffective, superlative most ineffective)
- not having the desired effect; ineffectual
- lacking in ability; incompetent or inadequate
Origin
in- + effective
English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.
Link to this page
Cite this page
MLA Style
"ineffective." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 20 February 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Ineffective>.
APA Style
ineffective. (n.d.). Retrieved February 20th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Ineffective
Sentence Examples
- This half measure was as ineffective as was to have been expected.
- Ismail's efforts to put an end to the slave trade, if sincere, were ineffective, and, moreover, south of Kordofan the authority of the government did not extend beyond the posts occupied by their troops.
- But he was deficient, it would seem, in the qualities that make an attractive lecturer, being harsh and indistinct in voice, ineffective in the treatment of his subject, and "singularly wanting in the language and power of illustration."
- Her mind control magic slid around him, ineffective this night.
- The plan of an international fleet to coerce the Mahommedan is even to this day ineffective; but the Hospitallers, who acquired a new basis by the conquest of Rhodes in 1310, used their fleet to enforce a partial and, on the whole, ineffective blockade of the coast of the Levant.
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WORDS NEAR ineffective IN THE DICTIONARY
- ineffective
- ineffably
- ineffaceable
- ineffaceably