User:Dan Polansky/Roget/699 unskillfulness

699. Unskillfulness

Noun

• unskillfulness &c. adj. ● want of skill &c. 698 ● incompetence, incompentency[obs3] ● inability, infelicity, indexterity[obs3], inexperience ● disqualification, unproficiency[obs3] ● quackery.
• folly, stupidity &c. 499 ● indiscretion &c. (rashness) 863 ● thoughtlessness &c. (inattention) 458 (neglect) 460 ● sabotage.
• mismanagement, misconduct ● impolicy[obs3] ● maladministration ● misrule, misgovernment, misapplication, misdirection, misfeasance ● petticoat government.
• absence of rule, rule of thumb ● bungling &c. v. ● failure &c. 732 ● screw loose: too many cooks.
• blunder &c. (mistake) 495 ● etourderie gaucherie[Fr], act of folly, balourdise[obs3] ● botch, botchery[obs3] ● bad job, sad work.
• sprat sent out to catch a whale, much ado about nothing, wild-goose chase.
• bungler &c. 701 ● fool &c. 501.

Verb

• be unskillful &c. adj. ● not see an inch beyond one's nose ● blunder, bungle, boggle, fumble, botch, bitch, flounder, stumble, trip ● hobble &c. 275 ● put one's foot in it ● make a mess of, make hash of, make sad work of ● overshoot the mark.
• play tricks with, play Puck, mismanage, misconduct, misdirect, misapply, missend.
• stultify oneself, make a fool of oneself, commit oneself ● act foolishly ● play the fool ● put oneself out of court ● lose control, lose control of oneself, lose one's head, lose one's cunning.
• begin at the wrong end ● do things by halves &c. (not complete) 730 ● make two bites of a cherry ● play at cross purposes ● strain at a gnat and swallow a camel &c. (caprice) 608 ● put the cart before the horse ● lock the stable door when the horse is stolen &c. (too late) 135.
• not know what one is about, not know one's own interest, not know on which side one's bread is buttered ● stand in one's own light, quarrel with one's bread and butter, throw a stone in one's own garden, kill the goose which lays the golden eggs, pay dear for one's whistle, cut one's own throat, bum one's fingers ● knock one's head against a stone wall, beat one's head against a stone wall ● fall into a trap, catch a Tartar, bring the house about one's ears ● have too many eggs in one basket (imprudent) 863, have too many irons in the fire.
• mistake &c. 495 ● take the shadow for the substance &c. (credulity) 486 ● bark up the wrong tree ● be in the wrong box, aim at a pigeon and kill a crow ● take the wrong pig by the tail, get the wrong pig by the tail, get the wrong sow by the ear, get the dirty end of the stick ● put the saddle on the wrong horse, put a square peg into a round hole, put new wine into old bottles.
• cut blocks with a razor ● hold a farthing candle to the sun &c. (useless) 645 ● fight with a shadow, grasp at a shadow ● catch at straws, lean on a broken reed, reckon without one's host, pursue a wild goose chase ● go on a fool's goose chase, sleeveless errand ● go further and fare worse ● lose one's way, miss one's way ● fail &c. 732.

Adjective

• unskillful &c. 698 ● inexpert ● bungling &c.v. ● awkward, clumsy, unhandy, lubberly, gauche, maladroit ● left-handed, heavy-handed ● slovenly, slatternly ● gawky.
• adrift, at fault.
• inapt, unapt ● inhabile[Fr] ● untractable[obs3], unteachable ● giddy &c. (inattentive) 458 ● inconsiderate &c. (neglectful) 460 ● stupid &c. 499 ● inactive &c. 683 ● incompetent ● unqualified, disqualified, ill-qualified ● unfit ● quackish ● raw, green, inexperienced, rusty, out of practice.
• unaccustomed, unused, untrained &c. 537, uninitiated, unconversant &c. (ignorant) 491[obs3] ● shiftless ● unstatesmanlike.
• unadvised ● ill-advised, misadvised ● ill-devised, ill-imagined, ill- judged, ill-contrived, ill-conducted ● unguided, misguided ● misconducted, foolish, wild ● infelicitous ● penny wise and pound foolish &c. (inconsistent) 608.

Phrase

• one's fingers being all thumbs ● the right hand forgets its cunning ● il se noyerait dans une goutte d'eau[Fr] ● incidit in Scyllam qui vult vitare Charybdim[Lat] ● out of the frying pan into the fire ● non omnia possumus omnes [Lat][Vergil].

• “unskillfulness” in Roget's Thesaurus, T. Y. Crowell Co., 1911.