inefficacious

2 definitions found

inefficacious - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Inefficacious \In*ef`fi*ca"cious\, a. [Pref. in- not +
     efficacious: cf. F. inefficace, L. inefficax.]
     Not efficacious; not having power to produce the effect
     desired; inadequate; incompetent; inefficient; impotent.
     --Boyle.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           The authority of Parliament must become inefficacious .
           . . to restrain the growth of disorders. --Burke.
     [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: Ineffectual, says Johnson, rather denotes an actual
           failure, and inefficacious an habitual impotence to any
           effect. But the distinction is not always observed, nor
           can it be; for we can not always know whether means are
           inefficacious till experiment has proved them
           ineffectual. Inefficacious is therefore sometimes
           synonymous with ineffectual.
           [1913 Webster]

inefficacious - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  inefficacious
      adj 1: lacking the power to produce a desired effect; "laws that
             are inefficacious in stopping crime" [ant: efficacious]