Meanings
plural ineptitudes
- countableuncountableThe quality of being inept.
The curse has been Spanish ineptitude feeding Gibraltarian intransigence. Border hold-ups are counterproductive to winning hearts and minds, as were blundering Argentinian landings on the outer Falklands.
2013 August 14, Simon Jenkins, “Gibraltar and the Falklands deny the logic of history”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 22 Apr 2021 - countableuncountableAn instance of being inept.
He droned on with platitudes and ineptitudes while Malone whispered to Enid that if Alasha was a fair specimen of the population it was just as well that his native land was safely engulfed in the Atlantic Ocean.
1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019
Synonyms & antonyms
noununskillfulness resulting from a lack of training
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinineptitūdō
- Englishineptitude
From Latin ineptitūdō. By surface analysis, inept + -itude.
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian абсу́рдност, неуместност
- абсу́рдност (absúrdnost)the quality of being inept
- неуместност (neumestnost)the quality of being inept
Catalan ineptitud
- ineptitudthe quality of being inept
Dutch dwaasheid
- dwaasheidthe quality of being inept
Finnish avuttomuus, taitamattomuus
- avuttomuusthe quality of being inept
- taitamattomuusthe quality of being inept
- kyvyttömyysthe quality of being inept
French stupidité
- stupiditéthe quality of being inept
German Unfähigkeit, Untauglichkeit (unfitness)
- Unfähigkeitthe quality of being inept
- Untauglichkeit (unfitness)the quality of being inept
Greek ανεπιτηδειότητα
- ανεπιτηδειότητα (anepitideiótita)the quality of being inept
Japanese 無才, 不向き
- 無才 (musai)the quality of being inept
- 不向き (fumuki)the quality of being inept
- 不適 (futeki)the quality of being inept
- 不適度 (futekido)the quality of being inept
- 不適性 (futekisei)the quality of being inept
Russian неспособность, негодность
- неспособность (nesposobnostʹ)the quality of being inept
- негодность (negodnostʹ)the quality of being inept
- никудышность (nikudyšnostʹ)the quality of being inept
Spanish ineptitud
- ineptitudthe quality of being inept
Turkish beceriksizlik, maharetsizlik
- beceriksizlikthe quality of being inept
- maharetsizlikthe quality of being inept
- yeteneksizlikthe quality of being inept
- kabiliyetsizlikthe quality of being inept
Cite this entry
ineptitude. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ineptitude
“ineptitude.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ineptitude. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ineptitude,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ineptitude.
Source: ineptitude on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.