incompetence

1 lack of physical or intellectual ability or qualifications [syn: incompetency] [ant: competence]

2 inability of a part or organ to function properly

English

Noun

1. Inability to perform; lack of competence; ineptitude.

Translations

Quotations

• 1851: Herman Melville, Moby-Dick

  ... at the head of a crew, too, chiefly made up of mongrel renegades, and castaways, and cannibals--morally enfeebled also, by the incompetence of mere unaided virtue or right-mindedness in Starbuck

• 1949: George Orwell, 1984

  Winston did not know why Withers had been disgraced. Perhaps it was for corruption or incompetence. Perhaps Big Brother was merely getting rid of a too-popular subordinate.

• 1974: Ursula Leguin, The Dispossessed

  The factory where she worked was a poisonous mass of incompetence, favoritism, and sabotage.

Related terms

• competency
• incompentency

Incompetence is the inability to perform; lack of Competence; ineptitude.

• Administrative incompetence, dysfunctional administrative behaviors that hinder attainment of organization goals
• Incompetence (book), a novel by Red Dwarf co-creator Rob Grant
• Military incompetence, failures of members of the military

References

See also

• Darwin Awards, death by incompetence
• Dunning-Kruger effect, unskilled and unaware of it
• Hanlon's Razor, Never attribute to malice...

ad lib, baseness, deficiency, disability, disablement, disqualification, extemporaneousness, failure, falling short, faultiness, fewness, imbecility, imperfection, improvisation, inability, inadeptness, inadequacy, inadequateness, inaptitude, inaptness, inattentiveness, incapability, incapacitation, incapacity, incompetency, indexterity, ineffectiveness, ineffectuality, inefficiency, ineptitude, ineptness, infancy, inferiority, insufficiency, insufficientness, lack of preparation, legal incapacity, littleness, maladjustment, maladroitness, meanness, mediocrity, minority, none to spare, nonfulfillment, nonpreparation, nonpreparedness, nonsatisfaction, pedestrianism, pettiness, planlessness, rustiness, shabbiness, short supply, skill-lessness, smallness, subnormality, thoughtlessness, too late, too little, triviality, unaptness, uncleverness, undeftness, undexterousness, undextrousness, unfitness, unfittedness, unintelligence, unpreparedness, unproficiency, unqualification, unqualifiedness, unreadiness, unschooledness, unskillfulness, unsuitability, unsuitableness, unsuitedness, untrainedness, uselessness, vulgarity, vulnerability, wardship