Inchoate
adjective
Emerging, nebulous, or only roughly conceived
In law, criminal offenses that are preludes or preparatory actions to a graver offense
Usage
While we obviously have to start a task before we can finish it, what often determines the challenge of the endeavor is how carefully we’ve evaluated and defined the steps between those two points. For simple tasks, devising and implementing a plan is accomplished in the blink of an eye, and for truly arduous undertakings, it seems like it takes an eternity for a definite approach to come together and go into effect. But before you lament the inchoate plans for pursuits you still have to figure out, just remember that at least you’re on your way to your destination - at least you’ve got one less step to take!
Inchoate characterizes something as just barely begun or indistinctly defined. For instance, an inchoate screenplay could just be a note scribbled on a napkin, and your inchoate treehouse construction project might just be a few two-by-fours leaned against the oak in your backyard. If something is inchoate, it implies that were it any more nebulously defined, it would be utterly indefinite. In other words, if a thing is less than inchoate, it isn’t tangible, communicable, or coherent enough to even exist. Oftentimes, the word is used to imply that a nascent notion or fledgling project persists in such a rudimentary state due to lack of sufficient or intensive thought. To return to the treehouse example, it might be an inchoate stack of planks because you have yet to look up any building plans, consult any guides, or acquire the necessary building tools.
It is worth noting that inchoate distinguishes itself from near synonyms with its comparatively more neutral connotation. An “immature” state of an idea’s formulation suggests that it has not been given much thought, but an inchoate thought might be indefinite or amorphous even after one has given it all the thought they can on account of the complexity of the subject. Similarly, a “rough” notion or outline implies vagueness, like a block of marble intended for sculpting into a statue, but an inchoate concept might have one relatively concrete component, but not enough reinforcing elements to make the final intended plan concrete.
In the context of criminal law, inchoate can be used to refer to offenses that are not only crime themselves, but point to the intended (though thwarted) perpetration of more serious ones. For instance, hackers caught breaking into a point of sales system to steal credit card numbers could be charged with the inchoate crime of computer intrusion in relation to their intention of using the purloined data to make fraudulent purchases. By contrast, purchasing marijuana vaporizers or other paraphernalia would not be an inchoate infraction because, although recreational marijuana use is illegal in most jurisdictions, buying the requisite equipment for it is not. Whether it’s your summer woodworking project or the nefarious preparation of a would-be criminal, if it’s inchoate, it’s just the beginning.
Example: She grew anxious as what she’d written was only an inchoate outline of her essay due the next day.
Example: The entrepreneur only had an inchoate idea, but she felt she was on to something.
Example: Known for audacious bank robberies, the criminal conspirators were charged with the inchoate offense of acquiring illegal weapons.
Origin
Inchoate, which began to appear in English in the early 1500s, is borrowed directly from the past participle of the Latin word inchoare, inchoatus. Inchoare is in turn an adaptation of the Latin incohare, meaning “to start” or “to begin,” and is comprised of the prefix in-, meaning “in, on, upon” and the root word cohum, meaning “to strap,” “to tie,” or “to fasten,” specifically to the harness of an ox or other cattle animal. The connection between harnessing a beast of burden and the faintest trace of a beginning may be in that an animal must be hitched to its harness before it can be put to nearly any use, whether pulling a cart, plowing a field, or even being led somewhere. Harnessing an animal would show an inchoate intention to work…or, at least, to make the animal work.
Derivative Words
Inchoately: The adverb form of inchoate illustrates that an action exhibits only nascent forethought.
Example: Some musicologists undertake the daunting task of orchestrating deceased composers’ inchoately sketched drafts of incomplete symphonies.
Inchoateness: Inchoateness describes the immaturity or nebulousness of an action or idea.
Example: Though recognized for his great potential by his teachers, he never developed the ideas for his novels past the point of inchoateness.
Inchoative: The adjective inchoative indicates that something is only rudimentary in form.
Example: Her inchoative scientific theory was already taking the academic community by storm, with dozens of researchers offering their interpretations.
Inchoation: An inchoation is a starting point or inception to something.
Example: Their first steps up the slope marked the inchoation of the climbers’ ascent to the summit.
In Literature
From Claire Messud’s The Emperor’s Children:
An inchoate mass of ambition, Julius knew that he had soon, soon to find something to be ambitious for; otherwise, he risked terminal resentment, from which there was no return.
By describing Julius as figuratively composed of amorphous and loosely defined, or inchoate, ambition, Messud illustrates that the character yearns to accomplish great things but does not yet fully understand what or how. This paints a portrait of indecision, doubt, or a whole host of possible stumbling blocks that the turbulent youth might face.
Comments
In the practice of law, the word choate has seen occasional use as an antonym for inchoate, specifically signifying an act, usually criminal, which has been realized or brought to its intended or logical conclusion. Despite its circulation in legal circles, there is currently contentious debate as to whether choate should be formally included in the lexicon of the profession. While some legal authorities, most prominently the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, have balked at its use, others have acknowledged its legitimacy by the very fact of its usage.
Mnemonic
You only have an inkling of an inchoate idea.
An inchoate thought is incomplete.
Tags
Beginnings, Starts, Ideas, Thoughts, Legal, Law
Bring out the linguist in you! What is your own interpretation of inchoate. Did you use inchoate in a game? Provide an example sentence or a literary quote.