incompetent

American  

[in-kom-pi-tuhnt] / ɪnˈkɒm pɪ tənt /

adjective

1. not competent; lacking qualification or ability; incapable.

   an incompetent candidate.

   Synonyms:

   unfit, inadequate, unqualified

   Antonyms:

   qualified, able

2. characterized by or showing incompetence.

   His incompetent acting ruined the play.

3. Law.

   1. being unable or legally unqualified to perform specified acts or to be held legally responsible for such acts.

   2. inadmissible, as evidence.

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noun

1. an incompetent person; a mentally deficient person.

2. Law. a person lacking power to act with legal effectiveness.

incompetent British  

/ ɪnˈkɒmpɪtənt /

adjective

1. not possessing the necessary ability, skill, etc to do or carry out a task; incapable

2. marked by lack of ability, skill, etc

3. law not legally qualified

   an incompetent witness

4. (of rock strata, folds, etc) yielding readily to pressure so as to undergo structural deformation

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noun

1. an incompetent person

Related Words

See incapable.

Other Word Forms

• incompetence noun
• incompetently adverb

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.

Example Sentences

In further recordings, Jeffries says he is "hoping for a good outcome", describing being found fit as a "disaster", and tells a doctor: "you better find me incompetent", Central Islip court heard.

From BBC • Mar. 28, 2026

Money is the focus in the tracks like “La Moneda,” with Joel’s voice echoing through the backdrop as he proclaims that cash might change some tacky, incompetent chumps, but not him.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 25, 2026

Go through the account activity together, framing it as a routine check rather than accusing him of being foolish or incompetent.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 23, 2026

The upside is that you keep your enemies on their toes, while the downside is that you risk looking unsure and incompetent at home.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 10, 2026

In a memo, Hoover informed Stone that he had begun combing through personnel files and identifying incompetent or crooked agents who should be fired.

From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann

Related Words

• amateurish
• helpless
• inadequate
• incapable
• ineffectual
• inefficient
• inept
• inexperienced
• unqualified
• unskilled
• useless