“apt” – English explanatory dictionary

adj 1. fitting well 2. □ apt to tending to ○ Our old car was apt to break down on motorways.

a. [F. apte, L. aptus, fr. obsolete apere to fasten, to join, to fit, akin to apisci to reach, attain: cf. Gr. to fasten, Skr. apta fit, fr. ap to reach attain.]
1. Fit or fitted; suited; suitable; appropriate. “They have always apt instruments.
Burke.” “A river … apt to be forded by a lamb.
Jer. Taylor.”
2. Having an habitual tendency; habitually liable or likely; — used of things. “My vines and peaches … were apt to have a soot or smuttiness upon their leaves and fruit.
Temple.” “This tree, if unprotected, is apt to be stripped of the leaves by a leaf-cutting ant.
Lubbock.”
3. Inclined; disposed customarily; given; ready; — used of persons. “Apter to give than thou wit be to ask.
Beau. & Fl.” “That lofty pity with which prosperous folk are apt to remember their grandfathers.
F. Harrison.”
4. Ready; especially fitted or qualified (to do something); quick to learn; prompt; expert; as a pupil apt to learn; an apt scholar. ´An apt wit.´ Johnson. “Live a thousand years,
I shall not find myself so apt to die.
Shak.” “I find thee apt … Now, Hamlet, hear.
Shak.” Syn. — Fit; meet; suitable; qualified; inclined; disposed; liable; ready; quick; prompt.

v. t. [L. aptare. See Aptate.] To fit; to suit; to adapt. [Obs.] ´ To apt their places.´ B. Jonson. “That our speech be apted to edification.
Jer. Taylor.”