incapacity
[in-kuh-pas-i-tee]
- lack of ability, qualification, or strength; incapability.
- Law. lack of the legal power to act in a specified way or ways.
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Origin of incapacity
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for incapacity
Contemporary Examples
Will our incapacity to govern efficiently and effectively further weaken our image as a global leader?
Obama’s Nightmare: Reelected in 2012 but Republicans Take the SenateThomas E. Cronin
December 29, 2011
Part of this absence of empathy is an incapacity for self-examination.
Historical Examples
Perhaps Anna's incapacity, which had always annoyed her, had been physical.
KMary Roberts Rinehart
A method of distinction so cheap that fools employ it to accentuate their incapacity.
The Devil's DictionaryAmbrose Bierce
A man of defeats and of incapacity to be thus worshipped as a hero!
Diary from November 12, 1862, to October 18, 1863Adam Gurowski
It is incapacity to imagine, still less to shape, the yet unknown.
The New SocietyWalther Rathenau
This has been an irremediable evil, as well as my incapacity to draw.
The Autobiography of Charles DarwinCharles Darwin
incapacity
- lack of power, strength, or capacity; inability
- law
- legal disqualification or ineligibility
- a circumstance causing this
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for incapacity
n.
1610s, from French incapacité (16c.), from Medieval Latin incapacitatem (nominative incapacitas), from Late Latin incapax (genitive incapacis) "incapable," from in- "not" (see in- (1)) + Latin capax "capable," literally "able to hold much," from capere "to take" (see capable). Often used 17c. as a legal term referring to inability to take, receive, or deal with in some way.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper