inadaptée

Inadaptée is the feminine form of the French adjective inadapté. It designates something or someone that is not adapted or ill-suited to a given environment, situation, or set of requirements. In everyday language, it can describe a person who does not fit within particular social norms or roles, or a behavior or system that fails to function effectively in its context. In clinical, educational, and social settings, the term appears in relation to the concept of social adaptation and is used to describe difficulties in adjusting to social, educational, or occupational environments.

Historically, inadaptée has appeared in psychiatric, criminological, and social literature to label individuals deemed unable to adjust to societal expectations. Because the term can carry stigma, contemporary usage tends toward neutral formulations such as a person in difficulty of adaptation or a person presenting difficulties of adaptation, with emphasis on the underlying factors rather than the label of the person.

Etymologically, inadapté derives from the prefix in- (not) combined with adapté (adapted), itself from the verb adapter. Related terms include inadaptation (the state or condition of not being adapted), maladaptation, and adaptation. The concept encompasses cognitive, emotional, social, and structural factors that affect an individual’s capacity to function within a given social system, and interventions typically focus on support, accommodation, education, and rehabilitation rather than punitive labeling.

See also social adaptation, inclusion, disability studies.