incompetence

See also: incompétence

English

Etymology

From French incompétence.

Noun

incompetence (uncountable)

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

Translations

inability to perform

• Dutch: incompetentie (nl)
• Finnish: epäpätevyys (fi), taitamattomuus
• French: incompétence (fr)
• German: Inkompetenz (de) f
• Irish: neamhinniúlacht f, neamhfhulangacht f

• Polish: inkompetencja f
• Russian: некомпете́нтность (ru) f (nekompeténtnostʹ)
• Spanish: incompetencia (es)
• Swedish: inkompetens (sv)

Related terms

• competency
• incompetency