incompetent

CEFRC1

/ɪnˈkɒmpətənt/

adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

01
adjective
Not having the ability or skill to do something well.
02
adjective
Extra detail
Opening too early during pregnancy, resulting in miscarriage or premature birth.

Examples

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Deep Dive

Extra meanings

Unable to make rational decisions; insane or otherwise cognitively impaired.
Lacking the degree of ability and responsibility necessary to do a task successfully.
Not resistant to deformation or flow.

In context

Having an incompetent lawyer may be grounds for a retrial, but the lawyer in question probably doesn't know that.
The charged was judged incompetent to stand trial, at least until his medication started working.
Near-synonyms: incapable, inable, unable

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

The word in print, with each source given in full.

Many Gazans scorn Fatah as corrupt and incompetent, and they dislike Hamas's overzealousness and repression.
2009 January 8, Nicholas D. Kristof, “The Gaza Boomerang”, in The New York Times
But besides these incompetents, there was always a train of camp followers, —women who followed the camp, beggars, and criminals, whose number was often greater than the number of fighting soldiers.
1915, Henry Smith Williams, Edward Huntington Williams, Modern Warfare, page 11
"Lies!" said the tallest of the sons of Ivaldi. "I wouldn't trust those fumble-fingered incompetents to shoe a horse."
2017, Neil Gaiman, Norse Mythology, Bloomsbury Publishing, page 34

Looking a word up is the easy part. LexUp remembers which words you have met and brings them back at the point you were about to forget them.

Borrowed from French incompétent, from Late Latin incompetentem, from Latin incompetēns, equivalent to in- + competent.