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:
Salesforce users ‘may experience severe delays, intermittent errors, or an inability to access some services,’ the company says.
From Barron's ● Sep. 16, 2026
The challenge stems from the inability to know or predict the outputs of these extraordinarily complex generative systems once they’re given prompts to do things in the world plus access to the internet.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
There is, the Thirlwall inquiry said, a consistent inability within the NHS to deal with poor performance.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
The mistake cost Boston the game and even though Everett took ownership of the error, many incorrectly blamed Pride’s inability to hear his teammate calling for the ball.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 13, 2026
But if wild populations with variations in genotype keep interbreeding, Dobzhansky knew, a new species would never be formed: a species, after all, is fundamentally defined by its inability to interbreed with another.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
But the frustration is that Australia, at times, have not outplayed England - instead, they have been gifted opportunities to win by England's inabilities to do the basics, like catching the ball.
From BBC ● Feb. 2, 2025
But the rollout of aid has been slow, partly reflecting the Haitian government’s own inabilities to oversee and coordinate it, an echo of the problems following the 2010 quake.
From New York Times ● Aug. 16, 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
Paltry debts harassed him; inabilities fretted his temperament and his pride; it irked him to have no better abode than this musty corner to which he could never invite an acquaintance.
From The Nether World by George Gissing
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.
