apt

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /æpt/

• Audio (GA)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æpt

From Old French apte, from Latin aptus, from obsolete apere (“to fasten, to join, to fit”), akin to apisci (“to reach, attain”); compare with Greek ἅπτειν (háptein, “to fasten”) and Sanskrit आप्त (āpta, “fit”), from आप् (āp, “to reach, attain”).

apt (comparative apter or more apt, superlative aptest or most apt)

1. Suitable; appropriate; fit or fitted; suited.

   Synonyms: appropriate, meet, suitable; see also Thesaurus:pertinent, Thesaurus:suitable

   an apt metaphor

   apt punishment

   • 1678, Antiquitates Christianæ: Or, the History of the Life and Death of the Holy Jesus: […], London: […] E. Flesher, and R. Norton, for R[ichard] Royston, […], →OCLC:

     a river […] apt to be forded by a lamb

   • 1755, Callimachus, “The First Hymn of Callimachus. To Jupiter.”, in William Dodd, transl., The Hymns of Callimachus, […], London: […] The translator [William Dodd], […], →OCLC, page 1:

     While we to Jove the pure libations pay, / Than Jove what apter claims the hallow'd lay?

2. (of persons or things) Having a habitual tendency; habitually liable or likely; disposed towards.

   Synonyms: disposed, inclined, liable, predisposed, tending towards; see also Thesaurus:inclined

   • 1874, John Lubbock, Scientific Lectures / On Plants and Insects:

     This tree, if unprotected, is apt to be stripped of its leaves by a leaf-cutting ant.

   • 1886, Frederic Harrison, The Choice of Books:

     that lofty pity with which prosperous folk are apt to remember their grandfathers

   • 1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Soldier in White”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 168:

     Since sick people were apt to be present, he could not always depend on a lively young crowd in the same ward with him, and the entertainment was not always good.

3. Ready; especially fitted or qualified (to do something); quick to learn.

   Synonyms: fit, prompt, expert, qualified, ready; see also Thesaurus:skilled

   a pupil apt to learn

   an apt scholar

   • 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:

     Fulfill your pleasure. Live a thousand years, / I shall not find myself so apt to die.

• apt.

apt (plural apts)

1. Abbreviation of apartment.
   • 2010, David Dondero, Just a Baby in Your Momma's Eyes:

     Where our apt used to be they built a fancy condominium high-rise.
     Which at a lowly income none of us could ever really quite afford.

• ATP, PAT, PTA, Pat, TAP, TPA, pat, tap

• apa, apet

apt

1. past participle of ape

From Latin aptus, likely through English apt.

apt (indefinite singular apt, definite singular and plural apte, comparative aptare, indefinite superlative aptast, definite superlative aptaste)

1. apt

Borrowed from French apte, from Latin aptus.

apt m or n (feminine singular aptă, masculine plural apți, feminine and neuter plural apte)

1. apt