inadequate
in·ad·e·quate/ɪnˈædəkwɪt/adjective, noun
inadequate is spelled I-N-A-D-E-Q-U-A-T-E, 4 syllables: in·ad·e·quate. The wrong spelling people search most is inadiquate: about 20 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 139 of all searches for the word. Inadequate is an adjective meaning “Not adequate; lacking in quality or quantity required; insufficient for a purpose”.
How many letters and syllables are in inadequate?
| Letters | 10: I-N-A-D-E-Q-U-A-T-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4: in·ad·e·quate |
| In writing | 6.6 times per million words; the 9,313th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 2; the most searched, inadiquate, about 20 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell inadequate?
Inadequate is spelled I-N-A-D-E-Q-U-A-T-E. 2 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 93 of the searches for inadequate in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is inadequate?
Inadequate appears 6.6 times per million words in written English, the 9,313th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce inadequate?
- /ɪnˈædəkwɪt/
Inadequate has 4 syllables, split in·ad·e·quate in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-inadequate.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of inadequate
- more inadequate comparative
- most inadequate superlative
- inadequates plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does inadequate mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Not adequate; lacking in quality or quantity required; insufficient for a purpose.
inadequate resources
noun
- 1
A person who is inadequate.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Inadequate in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense Not adequate:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | inadéquat |
| German | unzureichend, unzulänglich, unangemessen, ungeeignet, inadäquat |
| Portuguese | inadequado |
| Spanish | inadecuado |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does inadequate come from?
From in- + adequate.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).