incapacity

[in-kuh-pas-i-tee]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR incapacity ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

lack of ability, qualification, or strength; incapability.

Law. lack of the legal power to act in a specified way or ways.

Origin of incapacity

From the Late Latin word incapācitās, dating back to 1605–15. See in-³, capacity

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for incapacity

inability, insufficiency, disqualification, incapability

Examples from the Web for incapacity

Contemporary Examples of incapacity

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 Senate
Thomas E. Cronin
December 29, 2011
Part of this absence of empathy is an incapacity for self-examination.
Who Made Frank Rich God?
Lee Siegel
March 16, 2009

Historical Examples of incapacity

Perhaps Anna's incapacity, which had always annoyed her, had been physical.
K
Mary Roberts Rinehart
A method of distinction so cheap that fools employ it to accentuate their incapacity.
The Devil's Dictionary
Ambrose Bierce
A man of defeats and of incapacity to be thus worshipped as a hero!
Diary from November 12, 1862, to October 18, 1863
Adam Gurowski
It is incapacity to imagine, still less to shape, the yet unknown.
The New Society
Walther Rathenau
This has been an irremediable evil, as well as my incapacity to draw.
The Autobiography of Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin

British Dictionary definitions for incapacity

incapacity

noun plural -ties

lack of power, strength, or capacity; inability

law

legal disqualification or ineligibility
a circumstance causing this

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

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.