uncompetitive
Britishadjective
Explanation
Uncompetitive means not particularly motivated to win. If you have fun playing board games without caring who wins or loses, you're uncompetitive. While competitive people love to compete and want to be the very best at what they do, those who are uncompetitive just don't care as much about competition. This adjective can also be used to describe a business that can't quite make it: "The other frankfurter shops in town are much flashier — I'm afraid your hot dog cart will be uncompetitive."
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 same happened in 2024, from a lower starting point, and in 2025 they were simply uncompetitive, slipping to seventh in the championship from fifth the previous two years.
From BBC • Feb. 24, 2026
In the Mississippi watershed, trucks command as much as 90% of the freight market, because handoffs between railroads make rail service uncompetitive.
From Barron's • Dec. 29, 2025
The NAO also reported a lack of examiners and found many were leaving "due to uncompetitive pay and safety concerns".
From BBC • Dec. 16, 2025
The pessimistic expectations are due to uncompetitive production costs, high regulatory uncertainty and slow approval procedures, VCI says.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 10, 2025
There was never a town so inimitably drowsy or so sternly uncompetitive.
From Michael by Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic)
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.
