ineligible
Americanadjective
-
not eligible; not permitted or suitable.
Employees are ineligible in this contest.
- Synonyms:
- unsuitable
-
legally disqualified to hold an office.
-
legally disqualified to function as a juror, voter, witness, etc., or to become the recipient of a privilege.
noun
adjective
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of ineligible
Explanation
To be ineligible is to not qualify for something. When you're eligible for something — like a contest — you are allowed to enter. Being ineligible is the opposite; it means that you can't enter or participate in something. After a certain age, children are ineligible for playing Little League baseball. Students below a certain grade point average are ineligible for scholarships. People born outside the United States are ineligible to run for President. If you want to know who's eligible and ineligible for something, check the rules or laws.
Vocabulary lists containing ineligible
Set, Hut! Football Vocabulary
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American Football, 3rd Quarter
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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.
This way, a state that aggressively removes ineligible or fraudulent enrollees would see its totals fall but its per person baseline untouched.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 19, 2026
A second flaw was that workers who contributed and then left the state to work or retire elsewhere would have been ineligible for benefits.
From MarketWatch • May 13, 2026
Rahm, 31, had become ineligible for DP World Tour events and as a member not in good standing would not have been available for Ryder Cup selection next year.
From BBC • May 5, 2026
It isn’t clear why traders are spending their money on extreme underdogs and ineligible candidates, and the pattern is seemingly at odds with Polymarket CEO and founder Shayne Coplan’s stated purpose for the market.
From Barron's • Apr. 22, 2026
Ulbrickson learned that despite the break, four of his varsity boys still had incompletes and were just days away from being declared ineligible.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
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.
