Meaning of inefficient in English

inefficient

adjective

/ˌɪn.ɪˈfɪʃ.ənt/ uk

/ˌɪn.ɪˈfɪʃ.ənt/

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not organized, skilled, or able to work in a satisfactory way:

Existing methods of production are expensive and inefficient.

inefficient at He's hopelessly inefficient at organizing his time.

Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples

useless

uselessWe have cleared out carloads of useless junk.
no useMoney is no use if it's just sitting there.
serve no purposeSuch warnings serve no purpose other than to scare the public.
pointlessShe sees cleaning as a pointless exercise since everything is going to get dirty again.
worthlessThe majority of objects in the exhibition are worthless junk.

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working in a way that wastes a resource (= something valuable such as fuel, water, or money):

A gas stove is a very inefficient device because some of the hot gas is lost to the surroundings.

Current design practices are environmentally inefficient.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Useless and futile

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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Failing and doing badly

Related words

inefficiently

inefficiency

(Definition of inefficient from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

inefficient | Intermediate English

inefficient

adjective

/ˌɪn·ɪˈfɪʃ·ənt/

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wasting time, money, energy, or other valuable possessions or qualities:

Many of their industries are hopelessly inefficient.

inefficiency

noun [ U ] us

/ˌɪn·ɪˈfɪʃ·ən·si/

She promised to end government inefficiency.

inefficiently

adverb us

/ˌɪn·əˈfɪʃ·ənt·li/

He uses his time inefficiently.

(Definition of inefficient from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

inefficient | Business English

inefficient

adjective

/ˌɪnɪˈfɪʃənt/ us

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using resources such as time, materials, or labour in a way that wastes them:

There are too many big, inefficient companies in almost every part of the economy.

extremely/highly/increasingly inefficient

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efficient

inefficiently

adverb /ˌɪnɪˈfɪʃəntli/

Governments spend money inefficiently and get little return for it.

(Definition of inefficient from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of inefficient

inefficient

Synthetic fuel is cleaner than natural oil, but its production process is inefficient.

From Phys.Org

Then they persisted because inefficient small banks wanted to block competition.

From ThinkProgress

However, if you were ever looking to demonstrate how inefficient big-dollar free agency is, the 2012-13 offseason might be your standard.

From New York Post

Heating up large amounts of liquids, especially water, which has a high specific heat, is usually an inefficient way to cook.

From Slate Magazine

Do we turn it over to the federal government, where it will be spent in the most wasteful, inefficient way possible?

From Washington Times

It's a process that is purposely inefficient and pointedly complex, one meant to distinguish scientific discoveries from every other kind.

From The Atlantic

Why is the marketplace for skills so inefficient?

From The Atlantic

I had expected that the damage per ton of coal was large and that this was inefficient as well as damaging as a whole.

From Phys.Org

Flaws included an inefficient government bureaucracy and corruption.

From International Business Times

To meet that need for speed, robots are swarming in warehouses to eliminate the most inefficient variable in the e-commerce equation: us.

From Wired

Many state-owned companies and investment funds are as secretive and inefficient as their governments.

From Huffington Post

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

What is the pronunciation of inefficient?