incompetent

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

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈkɒmpətənt/
• Hyphenation: in‧com‧pe‧tent

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

incompetent (comparative more incompetent, superlative most incompetent)

1. Lacking the degree of ability and responsibility necessary to do a task successfully.

   Synonyms: noncompetent, uncompetent, inept; see also Thesaurus:bad

   Antonyms: competent, capable, able; see also Thesaurus:skilled

   Hyponyms: (usually hyponymous) unskilled, unskillful, untalented, inexperienced, nonexperienced, unexperienced

   Near-synonyms: incapable, inable, unable

   Having an incompetent lawyer may be grounds for a retrial, but the lawyer in question probably doesn't know that.

   • 2009 January 8, Nicholas D. Kristof, “The Gaza Boomerang”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     Many Gazans scorn Fatah as corrupt and incompetent, and they dislike Hamas's overzealousness and repression.

   1. Unable to make rational decisions; insane or otherwise cognitively impaired.

      The charged was judged incompetent to stand trial, at least until his medication started working.

   2. (medicine, of the cervix) Opening too early during pregnancy, resulting in miscarriage or premature birth.

      Near-synonyms: dysfunctional, nonfunctioning

   3. (geology) Not resistant to deformation or flow.

• incompetence
• incompetency

incompetent (plural incompetents)

1. A person who is incompetent.
   • 1915, Henry Smith Williams, Edward Huntington Williams, Modern Warfare, page 11:

     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.

   • 2017, Neil Gaiman, Norse Mythology, Bloomsbury Publishing, page 34:

     "Lies!" said the tallest of the sons of Ivaldi. "I wouldn't trust those fumble-fingered incompetents to shoe a horse."

Borrowed from Latin incompetentem. First attested in 1696.^[1]

incompetent m or f (masculine and feminine plural incompetents)

1. incompetent

   Antonym: competent

• incompetència

• “incompetent”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “incompetent” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “incompetent” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Likely borrowed, ultimately from Latin incompetēns. By surface analysis, in- +‎ competent.

• IPA^(key): /ˌɪŋ.kɔm.pəˈtɛnt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: in‧com‧pe‧tent
• Rhymes: -ɛnt

incompetent (comparative incompetenter, superlative incompetentst)

1. incompetent

From Latin incompetēns.

incompetent m (feminine singular incompetenta, masculine plural incompetents, feminine plural incompetentas)

1. incompetent

   Antonym: competent

• incompeténcia

• Joan de Cantalausa (2006) Diccionari general occitan a partir dels parlars lengadocians‎^[2], 2 edition, →ISBN, page 560.
• Diccionari General de la Lenga Occitana, L’Academia occitana – Consistòri del Gai Saber, 2008-2024, page 339.

Borrowed from French incompétent. Equivalent to in- +‎ competent.

incompetent m or n (feminine singular incompetentă, masculine plural incompetenți, feminine and neuter plural incompetente)

1. incompetent