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
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
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.
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
Palmer found himself spending time trying to get his expenses cleared through an incompetent bureaucracy, rather than romancing a beautiful girl on a sandy beach.
From BBC • Mar. 17, 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
The Taylor Hardin Secure Medical Facility in Tuscaloosa did all of the diagnostic and assessment work for courts managing people accused of crimes who might be incompetent to stand trial due to mental illness.
From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson
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.
