Dictionary

incompetence en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ɪnˈkɒm.pə.təns/

Etymology

From French incompétence, equivalent to in- + competence.

Meanings

1. (uncountable, usually) An inability to perform; a lack of competence; ineptitude.
   • The factory where she worked was a poisonous mass of incompetence, favoritism, and sabotage. 1974, Ursula Leguin, The Dispossessed:
   • ... at the head of a crew, too, chiefly made up of mongrel renegades, and castaways, and cannibals--morally enfeebled also, by the incompetence of mere unaided virtue or right-mindedness in Starbuck 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:
   • Winston did not know why Withers had been disgraced. Perhaps it was for corruption or incompetence. Perhaps Big Brother was merely getting rid of a too-popular subordinate. 1949 June 8, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Nineteen Eighty-Four: A Novel, London: Secker & Warburg, →OCLC; republished [Australia]: Project Gutenberg of Australia, August 2001:

Forms

Deriveds

immunoincompetence · weaponized incompetence · artificial incompetence

Relateds

competency · incompetent · incompetency

Translations (35)

ka არაკომპეტენტურობა (inability to perform) · nl incompetentie (inability to perform) · tr beceriksizlik (inability to perform) · ru некомпете́нтность (inability to perform) · sv inkompetens (inability to perform) · sa अक्षमा (inability to perform) · de Inkompetenz (inability to perform) · fa بیعرضگی (inability to perform) · pl niekompetencja (inability to perform) · ka არაქმედითობა (inability to perform) · ka ქმედუუნარობა (inability to perform) · da inkompetence (inability to perform) · fr incompétence (inability to perform) · ga neamhfhulangacht (inability to perform) · fi epäpätevyys (inability to perform) · tr kabiliyetsizlik (inability to perform) · hu hozzá nem értés (inability to perform) · pt incompetência (inability to perform) · pl inkompetencja (inability to perform) · it incompetenza (inability to perform) · tr yeteneksizlik (inability to perform) · tr maharetsizlik (inability to perform) · ka უუნარობა (inability to perform) · hu alkalmatlanság (inability to perform) · es incompetencia (inability to perform) · cs nekompetentnost (inability to perform) · ca incompetència (inability to perform) · hu inkompetencia (inability to perform) · cs neschopnost (inability to perform) · ga neamhinniúlacht (inability to perform) · te అసమర్థత (inability to perform) · fi osaamattomuus (inability to perform) · bg неспососбност (inability to perform) · fi taitamattomuus (inability to perform) · bg некомпетентност (inability to perform)