Meanings
plural ineptnesses
- uncountableusuallyThe quality or degree of being inept.
The ineptness of the novice jugglers was apparent as they frequently dropped their juggling pins.
1 more example
Today has been a day of folly, stupidity, and ineptness. The time is now eleven o'clock in the evening, and I am sitting in my room and thinking.
1867, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, chapter IV, in The Gambler, translated by C. J. Hogarth^(https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Gambler_(1867)/IV)Synonyms: awkwardness, incompetence, ineptitude, unfitness, unsuitability
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe quality or degree of being inept.
More synonyms by meaning
noununskillfulness resulting from a lack of training
nounthe quality of having the wrong properties for a specific purpose
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Translations
Bulgarian неспособност
- неспособност (nesposobnost)being inept
German Unfähigkeit, Untauglichkeit (unfitness)
- Unfähigkeitbeing inept
- Untauglichkeit (unfitness)being inept
Italian inettitudine
- inettitudinebeing inept
Cite this entry
ineptness. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ineptness
“ineptness.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ineptness. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ineptness,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ineptness.
Source: ineptness on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.