• Adept

    Pronunciation

    • UK IPA: /əˈdÉ›pt/, /ˈæd.É›pt/
    • UK IPA: /ˈæd.É›pt/, /ædˈɛpt/
    • Rhymes: -É›pt

    Origin

    From French adepte, from Latin adeptus ("who has achieved"), the past participle of adipisci ("to attain").

    Full definition of adept

    Adjective

    adept

    1. Well skilled; completely versed; thoroughly proficient
      • 1837-1839, Charles Dickens, Adept as she was, in all the arts of cunning and dissimulation, the girl Nancy could not wholly conceal the effect which the knowledge of the step she had taken, wrought upon her mind.

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    Noun

    adept

    (plural adepts)
    1. One fully skilled or well versed in anything; a proficient; as, adepts in philosophy.
      • 1841, Charles Dickens, Barnaby Rudge:When he had achieved this task, he applied himself to the acquisition of stable language, in which he soon became such an adept, that he would perch outside my window and drive imaginary horses with great skill, all day.
      • 1894-95, Thomas Hardy, Jude the Obscure:Others, alas, had an instinct towards artificiality in their very blood, and became adepts in counterfeiting at the first glimpse of it.

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