incompetent
Americanadjective
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not competent; lacking qualification or ability; incapable.
an incompetent candidate.
- Synonyms:
- unfit, inadequate, unqualified
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characterized by or showing incompetence.
His incompetent acting ruined the play.
-
Law.
-
being unable or legally unqualified to perform specified acts or to be held legally responsible for such acts.
-
inadmissible, as evidence.
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noun
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an incompetent person; a mentally deficient person.
-
Law. a person lacking power to act with legal effectiveness.
adjective
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not possessing the necessary ability, skill, etc to do or carry out a task; incapable
-
marked by lack of ability, skill, etc
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law not legally qualified
an incompetent witness
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(of rock strata, folds, etc) yielding readily to pressure so as to undergo structural deformation
noun
Related Words
See incapable.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of incompetent
First recorded in 1590–1600; from Late Latin incompetent- (stem of incompetēns ) “unsuitable.” See in- 3, competent
Explanation
If you are incompetent, you are not able to complete a task, like if you only ever made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches — you would be incompetent in the kitchen of a fancy French restaurant. Someone who is not very good at getting a job done is incompetent. An incompetent salesperson can't sell anything. A learned professor may be quite incompetent when it comes to controlling a room full of rowdy pre-schoolers. Legally speaking, you can be declared incompetent if you do not have necessary qualifications, like being certified or licensed to do a certain job, like cut hair or fix cars.
Vocabulary lists containing incompetent
Essential Academic Vocabulary for High School Students, List 3
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ACT Vocabulary List
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Awkward Moments
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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.
"Incompetent cervix" is a medical term for when the neck of the womb shortens and opens earlier than usual in pregnancy, which can contribute to premature birth.
From BBC • Jun. 14, 2022
Incompetent spy Clayton Lonetree is described as “somewhere between a schmendrick and a tool.”
From Washington Times • Oct. 21, 2019
Incompetent henchmen are the M.V.P.s of crime serials.
From New York Times • Jan. 26, 2015
Incompetent upper management decisions, unreasonable workloads, and a general lack of respect for engineers were among his reasons for fleeing the field.
From Slate • Jun. 29, 2012
“Do people think she was...I don’t know. Incompetent? Crazy?”
From "The Parker Inheritance" by Varian Johnson
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.
