English Meaning & Definitions
Inability to do something successfully; lack of skill, qualification, or capacity to perform a required task.
- “The project failed primarily due to the gross incompetence of the management team.”
- “He was fired from his position after demonstrating repeated incompetence in handling financial records.”
English Synonyms & Near Equivalents
English Antonyms & Opposites
Comprehensive Thesaurus Breakdown
Compare formal, informal, literary synonyms and register nuances for “incompetence”.
Derived from the Latin 'incompetentia', formed by the prefix 'in-' (not) and 'competere' (to strive together, to be suitable or capable). Originally, 'competent' meant 'to be sufficient' or 'to meet the requirements of a task'; thus, 'incompetence' denotes a failure to meet those requirements.
Think of 'in-compete-ence': someone who is 'in' the game but cannot 'compete' effectively.
Frequently Asked Questions About “incompetence”
1. What is the meaning of “incompetence” in English?
In English, incompetence (noun) is defined as: “Inability to do something successfully; lack of skill, qualification, or capacity to perform a required task.”.
2. How do you use “incompetence” in a sentence?
“The project failed primarily due to the gross incompetence of the management team.”
3. What are English synonyms of “incompetence”?
4. What is the etymology and word origin of “incompetence”?
Derived from the Latin 'incompetentia', formed by the prefix 'in-' (not) and 'competere' (to strive together, to be suitable or capable). Originally, 'competent' meant 'to be sufficient' or 'to meet the requirements of a task'; thus, 'incompetence' denotes a failure to meet those requirements.
🇬🇧More English Words to English
View all English words →A measurement of time indicating an instantaneous occurrence or a state where no time has elapsed.
The base unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), equal to the duration of 9,192,631,770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the caesium-133 atom.
A specific duration of time equal to one hour and forty-six minutes and twelve seconds.
The cardinal number equal to one thousand million (1,000,000,000), expressed in scientific notation as 10^9.