incompetent
Americanadjective
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not competent; lacking qualification or ability; incapable.
an incompetent candidate.
- Synonyms:
- unfit, inadequate, unqualified
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characterized by or showing incompetence.
His incompetent acting ruined the play.
-
Law.
-
being unable or legally unqualified to perform specified acts or to be held legally responsible for such acts.
-
inadmissible, as evidence.
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noun
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an incompetent person; a mentally deficient person.
-
Law. a person lacking power to act with legal effectiveness.
adjective
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not possessing the necessary ability, skill, etc to do or carry out a task; incapable
-
marked by lack of ability, skill, etc
-
law not legally qualified
an incompetent witness
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(of rock strata, folds, etc) yielding readily to pressure so as to undergo structural deformation
noun
Synonym Usage
See incapable.
Other Word Forms
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.
Vocabulary lists containing incompetent
Essential Academic Vocabulary for High School Students, List 3
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ACT Vocabulary List
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Awkward Moments
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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.
“The trial court abused its discretion by considering incompetent evidence in support of the temporary injunction,” the three-judge panel wrote.
From Salon ● Jul. 25, 2026
"Cockroaches are alive," it said in a social media post, describing Pradhan as "incompetent".
From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026
"Cruel or incompetent practice should have been prevented. Any behaviour which countered this was reprehensible."
From BBC ● Jun. 14, 2026
Pete Hegseth is no Melvin Laird — Nixon’s defense secretary who was so incompetent as to be blamed for losing the Vietnam War.
From Salon ● May 8, 2026
“But you realize we had to get permission from someone in your immediate family. You were incompetent to agree to this yourself.”
From "Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes
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.
