adjective
- inclined; disposed; given; prone: too apt to slander others.
- likely: Am I apt to find him at home?
- unusually intelligent; able to learn quickly and easily: an apt pupil.
- suited to the purpose or occasion; appropriate: an apt metaphor; a few apt remarks on world peace.
- Archaic. prepared; ready; willing.
adjective
- suitable for the circumstance or purpose; appropriate
- (postpositive; foll by an infinitive) having a tendency (to behave as specified)
- having the ability to learn and understand easily; clever (esp in the phrase an apt pupil)
mid-14c., “inclined, disposed;” late 14c., “suited, fitted, adapted,” from Old French ate (13c., Modern French apte), or directly from Latin aptus “fit, suited,” adjectival use of past participle of *apere “to attach, join, tie to,” from PIE root *ap- “to grasp, take, reach” (cf. Sanskrit apnoti “he reaches,” Latin apisci “to reach after, attain,” Hittite epmi “I seize”). Elliptical sense of “becoming, appropriate” is from 1560s.