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
We anticipated logistical challenges and ethical complexities, including potential trauma reactivation and our inability to provide clinical care.
From Slate ● Sep. 11, 2026
One of the criticisms of the previous England regime, under captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum, was their inability to finish series strongly.
From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2026
So these little nuggets of problematic facticity—the inability of garlic to disempower a magnet or of goat’s blood to re-empower it—found their way into della Porta’s text.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
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
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
I feel myself honored in a very high degree in being thus called to so delicate a responsibility, and I can but deeply feel my inabilities.
From Memoirs of Mrs. Rebecca Steward by T. G. (Theophilus Gould) Steward
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.
