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:
The inability to play with the same freedom and attacking intent that is often on show in big matches on the ATP Tour had become a perennial problem.
From BBC ● Nov. 2, 2026
His film is a self-reflexive study of the inability to act as people expect — of masking and deception.
From Salon ● Oct. 17, 2026
Insurance—or the inability to acquire it at an affordable price—has the potential to help police AI by imposing guardrails on both developers and users as a condition of coverage, brokers and insurers say.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
His comments go much further than the gentle diplomatic pressure Malaysia's government has so far applied, but they reflect a simmering frustration with Indonesia's inability to control the fires.
From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026
Consider our inability to grasp literature and most entertainment from the mortal age.
From "Scythe" by Neal Shusterman
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
The modern isms must be viewed with consideration, for there are many impostors concealing their inabilities by flocking to these less understood fields.
From Visual Illusions Their Causes, Characteristics and Applications by Matthew Luckiesh
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
