Meanings
comparative more incompetent · superlative most incompetent
- Lacking the degree of ability and responsibility necessary to do a task successfully.
Near-synonyms: incapable, inable, unable
2 more examples
Having an incompetent lawyer may be grounds for a retrial, but the lawyer in question probably doesn't know that.
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 TimesSynonyms: noncompetent, uncompetent, inept, ineffective, abysmal, atrocious, awful, bad · Antonyms: competent, capable, able, able, artful, habile, accomplished, adept
- 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.
- medicineOpening too early during pregnancy, resulting in miscarriage or premature birth.
Near-synonyms: dysfunctional, nonfunctioning
Synonyms: dysfunctional, nonfunctioning
- geographyNot resistant to deformation or flow.
plural incompetents
- A person who is incompetent.
"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 341 more example
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
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveLacking the degree of ability and responsibility necessary to do a task successfully.
adjectiveOpening too early during pregnancy, resulting in miscarriage or premature birth.
More synonyms by meaning
adjectivenot qualified or suited for a purpose
adjectivenot meeting requirements
nounsomeone who is not competent to take effective action
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinincompetēns
- Late Latinincompetentem
- Frenchincompétent
- Englishincompetent
Borrowed from French incompétent, from Late Latin incompetentem, from Latin incompetēns, equivalent to in- + competent.
More words from French, Late Latin, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans inkometent, onbekwaam
- inkometentunskilled, lacking normally expected degree of ability
- onbekwaamunskilled, lacking normally expected degree of ability
- onbevoegunskilled, lacking normally expected degree of ability
Bengali বেওয়াকেফ
- বেওয়াকেফ (beōẇakeph)unskilled, lacking normally expected degree of ability
Bulgarian неспособен, неумел
- неспособен (nesposoben)unskilled, lacking normally expected degree of ability
- неумел (neumel)unskilled, lacking normally expected degree of ability
- некомпетентен (nekompetenten)unskilled, lacking normally expected degree of ability
- невменяем (nevmenjaem)unable to make rational decisions, insane or otherwise cognitively impaired
Catalan incompetent, incompetent
- incompetentunskilled, lacking normally expected degree of ability
- incompetentunable to make rational decisions, insane or otherwise cognitively impaired
Dutch incompetent
- incompetentunskilled, lacking normally expected degree of ability
Esperanto malkompetenta, nekompetenta
- malkompetentaunskilled, lacking normally expected degree of ability
- nekompetentaunskilled, lacking normally expected degree of ability
Finnish epäpätevä, taitamaton
- epäpäteväunskilled, lacking normally expected degree of ability
- taitamatonunskilled, lacking normally expected degree of ability
- kykenemätönunable to make rational decisions, insane or otherwise cognitively impaired
- kyvytönunable to make rational decisions, insane or otherwise cognitively impaired
- pystymätönunable to make rational decisions, insane or otherwise cognitively impaired
- vajaavaltainenunable to make rational decisions, insane or otherwise cognitively impaired
French incompétent
- incompétentunskilled, lacking normally expected degree of ability
German inkompetent, unfähig
- inkompetentunskilled, lacking normally expected degree of ability
- unfähigunskilled, lacking normally expected degree of ability
Greek αναρμόδιος
- αναρμόδιος (anarmódios)unskilled, lacking normally expected degree of ability
Hindi नालायक
- नालायक (nālāyak)unskilled, lacking normally expected degree of ability
Icelandic liðónýtur, óhæfur
- liðónýturunskilled, lacking normally expected degree of ability
- óhæfurunskilled, lacking normally expected degree of ability
- ónýturunskilled, lacking normally expected degree of ability
- vanhæfurunskilled, lacking normally expected degree of ability
Italian incompetente
- incompetenteunskilled, lacking normally expected degree of ability
Japanese できない, 無能な
- できない (dekinai)unskilled, lacking normally expected degree of ability
- 無能な (munō na)unskilled, lacking normally expected degree of ability
Latin inhabilis, sēgnis
- inhabilisunskilled, lacking normally expected degree of ability
- sēgnisunskilled, lacking normally expected degree of ability
Māori hēhē, hakorea
- hēhēunskilled, lacking normally expected degree of ability
- hakoreaunskilled, lacking normally expected degree of ability
- koretakeunskilled, lacking normally expected degree of ability
- koretakeunable to make rational decisions, insane or otherwise cognitively impaired
Norwegian Bokmål inkompetent
- inkompetentunskilled, lacking normally expected degree of ability
Polish niekompetentny
- niekompetentnyunskilled, lacking normally expected degree of ability
Portuguese incompetente
- incompetenteunskilled, lacking normally expected degree of ability
Romanian incompetent
- incompetentunskilled, lacking normally expected degree of ability
Russian некомпете́нтный, невменя́емый
- некомпете́нтный (nekompeténtnyj)unskilled, lacking normally expected degree of ability
- невменя́емый (nevmenjájemyj)unable to make rational decisions, insane or otherwise cognitively impaired
Spanish incompetente
- incompetenteunskilled, lacking normally expected degree of ability
Thai ไม่ได้เรื่อง, ไม่เอาไหน
- ไม่ได้เรื่องunskilled, lacking normally expected degree of ability
- ไม่เอาไหน (mâi-ao-nǎi)unskilled, lacking normally expected degree of ability
Turkish beceriksiz, yeteneksiz
- beceriksizunskilled, lacking normally expected degree of ability
- yeteneksizunskilled, lacking normally expected degree of ability
Ukrainian некомпете́нтний
- некомпете́нтний (nekompeténtnyj)unskilled, lacking normally expected degree of ability
Yiddish אומקאָמפּעטענט, נישט־פֿעיִק
- אומקאָמפּעטענט (úmkompetént)unskilled, lacking normally expected degree of ability
- נישט־פֿעיִק (nísht-féik)unskilled, lacking normally expected degree of ability
- אומפֿעיִק (úmfeik)unskilled, lacking normally expected degree of ability
Cite this entry
incompetent. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/incompetent
“incompetent.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/incompetent. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “incompetent,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/incompetent.
Source: incompetent on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.