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adept

noun · adjective

Simple meaning

One fully skilled or well versed in anything.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

uhdehpt

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

əˈdɛpt

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. One fully skilled or well versed in anything; a proficient

adjective

  1. Well skilled; completely versed; thoroughly proficient

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C1 · Advanced (estimated)
Frequency
Uncommon
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: One fully skilled or well versed in anything; a proficient

Used this way, adept is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Nearby words

  • hotshot , more casual, better suited to speech than writing

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use adept

  • “Adepts in philosophy.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

become adeptadept use

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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: well skilled

practicedskillfulproficienthotshotInformal

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.