How to Use inoperative in a Sentence

inoperative

adjective
  • With the new federal law in place, the state law has become inoperative.
  • The accident had rendered the vehicle inoperative.
  • One bathroom has a hole in a wall, inoperative stall doors and shattered floor tiles.
    — Sharon Noguchi, The Mercury News, 12 May 2017
  • When there’s a killer on one side and a dead body on the other, the all-sides stance becomes inoperative.
    — T.a. Frank, The Hive, 16 Aug. 2017
  • The family car was inoperative half of the time with plastic garbage bags as back windows.
    — Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY, 30 Jan. 2022
  • The rear drive axle may have the incorrect type of brake cam installed, which could result in inoperative rear axle brakes.
    — Detroit Free Press, 21 Aug. 2021
  • The antiskid system was inoperative, and all four main tires on the landing gear blew.
    — Jeff Suess, Cincinnati Enquirer, 22 Mar. 2026
  • The plants will become inoperative in the first half of 2024.
    — William Thornton | [email protected], al, 7 Aug. 2023
  • All twin-engine aircraft can fly with one engine inoperative.
    — John Cox, USA TODAY, 24 June 2018
  • The windshield wiper motor may become inoperative, causing the wipers to fail.
    — Detroit Free Press, 26 Aug. 2022
  • The windshield wiper motor may become inoperative, causing the wipers to fail.
    — USA TODAY, 25 Aug. 2022
  • The windshield wiper motor may become inoperative, causing the wipers to fail.
    — Detroit Free Press, 2 Sep. 2022
  • Every home has that one drawer where unknown or inoperative chargers go to become a tangled mess.
    — Kaylei Fear, Better Homes & Gardens, 9 Dec. 2021
  • The driver failed to use a turn signal while changing lanes and a rear license plate light was inoperative, the sheriff’s office said.
    — Kieran Nicholson, The Denver Post, 3 Dec. 2019
  • In wartime, however, the calculus changes, because most of the costs are inoperative.
    — William C. Wohlforth, Foreign Affairs, 22 June 2021
  • Every home has that one drawer where unknown or inoperative chargers end up, becoming a tangled mess.
    — Kaylei Fear, Better Homes & Gardens, 11 Feb. 2026
  • Failure to perform this step will result in an inoperative system and an incomplete repair.
    — Nick Statt, The Verge, 12 Nov. 2018
  • Chiu’s office said the bill would not prevent cities from enacting their own laws to address abandoned, wrecked or inoperative vehicles.
    — Laura J. Nelson, latimes.com, 12 June 2019
  • And there’s been plenty of media focus since then — including on inoperative toilets.
    — Michael Peregrine, Chicago Tribune, 8 Apr. 2026
  • The selling dealer notes an inoperative horn, wipers, and radio pushbuttons.
    — Joe Lorio, Car and Driver, 26 Aug. 2022
  • The Info menu indicates the right rear sensor is inoperative.
    — John Paul Senior Manager Public Affairs and Traffic Safety Aaa Northeast, Hartford Courant, 10 Jan. 2026
  • If the fuel pump module is inoperative, the engine may not start or can stall while riding, increasing the risk of a crash or injury, the company said.
    — Mike Snider, USA TODAY, 26 Feb. 2024
  • Captain Pearson took this to mean that the cockpit fuel gauges were completely inoperative.
    — Matt Parker, Wired, 23 Jan. 2020
  • As a result, roughly one-fourth of the pumps in the region were inoperative within 12 months of installation.
    — Marco Bertini, jean-Manuel Izaret, richard Hutchinson, Harvard Business Review, 17 Feb. 2024
  • Powers had taken his voice away from the project by choice, but then it was taken away from him against his will after a reaction to an over-the-counter drug left his larynx and vocal cords inoperative for eight months.
    — Larisha Paul, Rolling Stone, 28 Feb. 2023
  • The Honda becomes inoperative just after the six-minute mark near Tamiami Trail.
    — Carli Teproff, Charles Rabin, Rebecca Ellis and David Ovalle, miamiherald, 6 June 2018
  • Roads were clogged all over San Juan because traffic lights were inoperative, and several businesses in busy downtown areas were closed.
    — Washington Post, 18 Apr. 2018
  • By June 73 per cent of the country’s thermal power generating units had been rendered inoperative.
    — David Hambling, Forbes, 4 Nov. 2024
  • The wood is peeling, the leather is cracked, power antenna, air horns, and radio are inoperative, and the power windows work only intermittently.
    — Elana Scherr, Car and Driver, 20 Apr. 2022
  • The systems could have electrical compressor failure, which can cause the defroster or defogger to be inoperative, increasing the risk of a crash, the recall notice said.
    — Melina Khan, USA Today, 11 Sep. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'inoperative.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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