incompetent

See also: incompétent

English

Etymology

From French incompétent, from Latin incompetēns.

Adjective

incompetent (comparative more incompetent, superlative most incompetent)

1. Unskilled; lacking the degree of ability that would normally be expected.

   Having an incompetent lawyer may be grounds for a retrial, but the lawyer in question probably doesn't know that.

2. Unable to make rational decisions, insane or otherwise cognitively impaired.

   The charged was judged incompetent to stand trial, at least until his medication started working.

3. (medicine) Of the cervix: opening too early in pregnancy, provoking the baby to be born.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:bad

Translations

unskilled, lacking normally expected degree of ability

• Azerbaijani: səriştəsiz
• Belarusian: некампетэ́нтны (njekampjeténtny)
• Bulgarian: неспособен (bg) (nesposoben), неумел (bg) (neumel), некомпетентен (bg) (nekompetenten)
• Catalan: incompetent (ca)
• Dutch: incompetent (nl)
• Esperanto: malkompetenta, nekompetenta
• Finnish: epäpätevä (fi), taitamaton (fi)
• French: incompétent (fr)
• German: inkompetent (de), unfähig (de)
• Greek: αναρμόδιος (el) (anarmódios)
• Hindi: नालायक (nālāyak)
• Japanese: できない (dekinai), 無能な (ja) (munō na)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latin: inscitus
• Maori: hēhē, hakorea
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: inkompetent

  Nynorsk: inkompetent

• Polish: niekompetentny (pl)
• Portuguese: incompetente (pt)
• Romanian: incompetent (ro)
• Russian: некомпете́нтный (ru) (nekompeténtnyj)
• Sanskrit: अशक्त (sa) (aśakta)
• Spanish: incompetente (es)
• Ukrainian: некомпете́нтний (nekompeténtnyj)

unable to make rational decisions, insane or otherwise cognitively impaired

• Bulgarian: невменяем (bg) (nevmenjaem)
• Catalan: incompetent (ca)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Finnish: kykenemätön (fi), kyvytön (fi), pystymätön (fi), vajaavaltainen (fi)
• Maori: koretake

Noun

incompetent (plural incompetents)

1. A person who is incompetent.

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Catalan

Etymology

From Latin incompetēns.

Adjective

incompetent m or f (masculine and feminine plural incompetents)

1. incompetent

   Antonym: competent

Related terms

• incompetència

Further reading

• “incompetent” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “incompetent”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “incompetent” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “incompetent” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

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Dutch

Etymology

Likely borrowed, ultimately from Latin incompetēns. Equivalent to in- +‎ competent.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌɪŋ.kɔm.pəˈtɛnt/
• Hyphenation: in‧com‧pe‧tent
• Rhymes: -ɛnt

Adjective

incompetent (comparative incompetenter, superlative incompetentst)

1. incompetent

Inflection

Declension of incompetent
uninflected	incompetent
inflected	incompetente
comparative	incompetenter
		positive	comparative	superlative
predicative/adverbial		incompetent	incompetenter	het incompetentst het incompetentste
indefinite	m./f. sing.	incompetente	incompetentere	incompetentste
	n. sing.	incompetent	incompetenter	incompetentste
	plural	incompetente	incompetentere	incompetentste
definite		incompetente	incompetentere	incompetentste
partitive		incompetents	incompetenters	—

Related terms

• incompetentie