inability
Americannoun
-
inabilities
plural
noun
Synonym Usage
See disability.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of inability
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English inabilite, from Medieval Latin inhabilitās; equivalent to in- 3 + ability
Explanation
An inability refers to lacking the capacity to do something. A deaf person has an inability to hear. If you know that abilities are things people can do — like the ability of a basketball player to dunk the ball — then you might already have figured out that an inability is something a person cannot do. Most people have an inability to dunk a basketball. People who eat too much have an inability to resist food. Often, this word refers to having mental limitations: an inability to think or figure something out. We all have different abilities and inabilities.
Vocabulary lists containing inability
Dealing with Dragons
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"Ellen West" by Frank Bidart
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
But the continued inability of precision experiments to converge on the same value keeps the mystery alive.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 20, 2026
In the aftermath of the heartbreaking defeat, Tuchel pointed to his team's inability to find control having taken the lead via Anthony Gordon's opener as a key factor behind his side's late collapse.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
Jana said Cooper requires an urgent overhaul to address its “chronic underperformance” and inability to manage its inventory and capital spending.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
Salesforce users ‘may experience severe delays, intermittent errors, or an inability to access some services,’ the company says.
From Barron's ● Sep. 16, 2026
For our purposes, however, the ultimate cause of the condition is less important than its systemic manifestation, which was a congenital inability to separate his thoughts from his feelings about them.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
Researchers also found partners expressed feelings of high stress, a diminished sense of personal growth and worth, difficulties or inabilities within their caregiving roles, and a general sense of feeling unsupported.
From BBC ● Apr. 24, 2025
In April 2020, the Department of Transportation received over 17,000 complaints about inabilities to get refunds for flights, a more than 17,000-percent increase from just 98 in the same month in 2019.
From New York Times ● Jul. 6, 2021
Hewitt’s own inabilities aside, the actress can at least play the part.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 18, 2018
But these inabilities do not exceed the corporeal: physical growth is not a metaphor for emotional growth.
From The Guardian ● Jan. 31, 2018
He oversteps, too, the inabilities of the histrionic art.
From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 57, No. 353, March 1845 by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
